Microsoft fights back with Internet Explorer 7 & new beta

Microsoft has released a new beta of Internet Explorer 7 during the MIX06-conference.

The company's inattention to the browser allowed competitors such as Mozilla with Firefox and Opera Software ASA to challenge IE’s browser dominance.

Now Microsoft is answering that challenge, Gates said. The company is adding user experience and security innovations, as well as support for next-generation technologies such as RSS. Microsoft already is looking ahead to the next two releases of IE, and it expects the next version, IE 7, to be broadly adopted when it is released later this year. The company plans to update IE 7 at least every 18 months.

Microsoft also hopes that Microsoft Expression, its suite of tools for Web designers, will put up a strong fight against high-end Web authoring and design tools such as Flash and Dreamweaver from Adobe Systems.