Just when I was starting to like Microsoft’s approach to the Web… Just when I was defending the cross-browser support in their latest Web application… Just when I thought there was some hope for the little browser that wouldn’t…
…they release a closed beta of their free browser (free as in “free with every Happy Meal”).
WTF.
Insert rant here. I’m on holiday.
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Pretty dissapointing to say the least I was very much looking forward to testing it out but I guess I will just have to wait :mad:
July 27th, 2005 at 11:45 pm
Thats awful =\ For months now everyone has been saying ie7 would be out by the summer. Here we are at the end of july, and only a closed beta -_-
July 27th, 2005 at 11:47 pm
C’mon guys. Cut them some slack. I am sure they would release open beta as well. And summer is not over yet!
July 28th, 2005 at 12:59 am
^^ Agreed. I am sure they will deliver – still a month to go. Atleast till then indulge yourself on the leaked versions that will probably start showing up anyways.
July 28th, 2005 at 1:31 am
Hrm…. I *cough* found it on some pretty well known torrent sites under ie 7…
make sure you have a legit copy of windows ;)
July 28th, 2005 at 1:58 am
Yeah,… and they never said which summer, now did they?!
I think reading it as this summer is willful misinterpretation of the facts!
;)
July 28th, 2005 at 2:27 am
So far,,, i like the beta…
http://aplosmedia.com/temp/screenshots/screenshot-7-28-2005-0000.png
That’s an image of the beta… the toolbar is a little weird… I wish I could just totally disable the File, Edit View toolbar, but I can’t.
The shortcut to open a new tab is CTRL + T, which is awsome. HOWEVER, there appears to be no shortcut to switch to a tab… would be great if they made them CTRL + ## but hey, whatever….
It also appears that the * html hack doesn’t work, I tried it on a site and it didn’t even display the page… wonderful ;)
Other than that, I am really looking forward to the stable, and Windows Vista as well… Go Microsoft!
July 28th, 2005 at 2:53 am
I lied about the * html
July 28th, 2005 at 3:48 am
Come on guys, Betas are only for the developers who need to test it out for bugs and changes in existing code.
Not for people who make web sites! What use would we have for it?
July 28th, 2005 at 4:02 am
Trying to find the Beta on MSDN, but can’t see it anywhere.
Anyone whose being able to find it will to point out where on MSDN it is?
(Yeah, we have a full MSDN subscription here.)
Thanks,
July 28th, 2005 at 4:09 am
About the engine, so far I only heard they fixed 2 CSS bugs? Is that really it? If this is true, then MS just killed IE.
July 28th, 2005 at 4:13 am
The last time that I checked IE7 really only mattered to web developers. We really don’t need Vista now, but do programmers need IE7? Not really. The millions of websites are what need it – they should have had this release public.
July 28th, 2005 at 6:59 am
In which case Internet Explorer has been in beta since conception ;)
And what’s so awesome about opening new tabs with ctrl+t; been doing that in Firefox since, well always.
July 28th, 2005 at 7:30 am
After playing around with IE 7 for a while i posted my impression on the IE blog:
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/07/27/444004.aspx#444336
July 28th, 2005 at 7:32 am
Please forgive my naivety, but WTF does WTF mean?
July 28th, 2005 at 8:03 am
Beta tests are not traditionally released to the general public. Releasing software openly to the public under a ‘beta’ name is a relatively recent trend. It is not unusual for Beta testing to be open only to pre-registered test participants or certain portions of the population.
On the other hand, if Microsoft did promise that they would release Beta test versions of Vista/IE7 to the general public, then the issue is that they broke that promise.
July 28th, 2005 at 8:09 am
I lied about the * html
pfff I almost freaked out!
July 28th, 2005 at 9:38 am
Peach ->
I sted something that was wrong… and without investigating any further, assumed it didn’t work ;)
July 28th, 2005 at 9:46 am
Chill out guys. This is Beta 1. The current pattern seems to be the Betas go to MVPs/MSDN subscribers. Who hit on everything glaring. Once there is a bit more polish, I am almost certain a “Community Technology Preview” will be released to the general public.
July 28th, 2005 at 9:56 am
Eric, try CTRL+TAB for switching tabs. Works in almost all Windows appz.
BTW, thanks for the screenshot. This menu is really weirdly placed. I think one might accidently click it when aiming at a tab.
Have you checked out the acid test?
http://mywallop.com/wc2%5C878649_per%5Cpic%5C13211356.jpg
July 28th, 2005 at 10:16 am
I have played around with the beta and I have to say that it’s has to be the absolute worst laid out piece of software to date. the whole ui is crap. I love Firefox and safari but IE 7 comes one where close to even being a useful browser with the way it’s laid out.
I think the Microsoft ui guess need to take UI 101 at the local collage.
July 28th, 2005 at 10:36 am
> I wish I could just totally disable the File, Edit View toolbar, but I can’t.
I wish I could just disable the whole damn browser, never mind anything else about it :D
July 28th, 2005 at 10:38 am
I like the layout… and actually like where the tabs are. and the layout… i dislike not being able to use CTRL + ## to get to a tab… and I hate the file | edit | view bar… i want it gone ;)
ssttoo: i did look at the acid test… it’s interesting… I wish they had a changelog somewhere
July 28th, 2005 at 11:21 am
Just download it using eMule/eDonkey, whatever.. You won’t have a hard time finding it and I can’t imaging it to be that bad if you’re just gonna test it … :-#
ED2K link:
ed2k://|file|Internet.Explorer.7.Beta1.-.released.on.28.07.2005.rar|10788653|F7646F7845E85767C83D8197D2E7FADB|/
July 28th, 2005 at 1:53 pm
ie 7 is ugly as hell
July 28th, 2005 at 4:57 pm
It’s to “early” to talk much about IE7, and it better be something special, and I beleive its going to be a decent browser, they can’t mess up while entire “world” is looking at them, I hope that Microsoft got the message.
I like IE in general, firefox is ok too, but I have this feeling that IE is smarter ???
July 28th, 2005 at 5:45 pm
The text in Kevin’s profile doesn’t wrap :S
July 28th, 2005 at 9:23 pm
ah well, I don’t know what’s the fuss about? haven’t we seen enough to expect the first betas(of imp. softwares) to be available for MSDN subscribers only? I think that the first beta of .NET v2 was made available only to MSDN subscribers, no? They are paying members afterall, so they do expect some favouritism over the rest of us cheapstakes who don’t subscribe!! ;) :P
July 29th, 2005 at 1:14 am
What’s the menu inside the tabs?
July 29th, 2005 at 3:39 am
> but I have this feeling that IE is smarter ???
The 3 question marks just confirms it.
July 29th, 2005 at 3:52 am
Why does this beta need to be public? Well maybe not this one, but one DOES need to be. Web developers need to have plenty of time to test out CSS2 properties that were broken in IE6, but I guess those who use front page dont know what CSS2 is.
Also, can I say, that browser looks a lot like FIREFOX!
July 29th, 2005 at 10:55 am
It’s a bloated, slow, half-functional browser now. What makes you think version 7 will be any different?
Once you do get your hands on it, you’ll all be complaining that it’s not as good as Firefox.
Forget IE. Go download the latest build of Firefox, and enjoy.
July 30th, 2005 at 1:58 pm
Using firefox I think that IE7 will rarely give some competition to it…lets see
July 30th, 2005 at 4:14 pm
I may be out of line here, but I think that maybe they didn’t do many CSS fixes because they want whatever works in IE6 to also work in IE7…so when people upgrade it doesn’t mess everything up?
I know it sounds like a lame reason, but they may have held back just to be compatible in some sense.
I haven’t had a chance to check out the new browser myself, but from the few rumors and the blog I’ve read…this browser isn’t what I was expecting.
July 31st, 2005 at 3:08 am
If IE7 really is the biggest dissapointment of the year for the web developer community, what else could we possible do, apart from whinging about it and cursing Microsoft’s name? If it is a dog of a release, then surely various computer magazines will realise this, presenting a perfect oppurtunity to step up the promotion of Firefox or any other standards compliant browser to our friends, family, clients and household pets!
July 31st, 2005 at 4:28 am
Hm. The more people use firefox, the more popups/viruses will be made to exploit it. I’d be just as happy if it weren’t ever popular.
August 1st, 2005 at 3:19 am
>>Trying to find the Beta on MSDN, but can’t see it anywhere.
It’s under platforms->internet explorer
BTW, to tab between the different tabs use: CTRL + ALT + TAB
August 1st, 2005 at 11:52 am
i sure hope they fix all the CSS bugs in IE7. That way, about a year after it’s released, I can stop caring about all the browser incompatibilities.
It’s a great dream, I just doubt it will ever happen.
August 1st, 2005 at 5:33 pm
All I can say is too little, too late!
August 1st, 2005 at 9:53 pm
What happens to all my CSS hacking to IE6 now with IE7 coming? This crap better be able to ignore the hack or else I’ve got anlot of sites to fix. DAMMIT!
August 3rd, 2005 at 5:52 pm
you can easily find a torrent of the beta
August 3rd, 2005 at 6:52 pm
Imagine being able to create a site that just worked everywhere, no more quirks!
Ok, back to the real world!
August 3rd, 2005 at 6:58 pm
Whine with dinner. How lovely. Look, children, real developers have MSDN subscriptions. Wannabees don’t. When you grow up and get real jobs, you’ll have a subscription. Now you have a clue.
August 3rd, 2005 at 7:55 pm
Gerald, Firefox has a builtin popup-blocker and you can get the adblocker extension for it, also since it does not allow JavaScript to access tyhe filesystem or support ActiveX, you shouldn’t need to worry much about more popups or viruses for Firefox.
To those of you who plan to stop supporting IE5-6/Win: I still see people using IE5.0/Win in my server logs. What makes you think that everybody will upgrade when IE7 comes out? Also, I’ve heard that IE7 won’t be available for Win9x and possible not Win2k either, so not everybody will be able to simply upgrade IE any way.
August 3rd, 2005 at 8:36 pm
I’ve just received an email from someone saying that Microsoft are paying people to “spread the news” that they are the “biggest and best” with this new IE7. Yeah right!
August 3rd, 2005 at 9:07 pm
I got a chance to install IE7 on my computer (I’m not a MSDN subscriber) and it does seem to browse the web “faster” than IE6 does. I find the overall look of IE7 ironic in that a LOT of the user interface seems to be taken from Firefox (ie. the Google search bar in the top right hand corner). Honestly, I don’t see the huge improvements over IE6 but then I was just gonna stick with Firefox anyway.
August 3rd, 2005 at 9:38 pm
Hmm.. wonder what’s the big fuss abt all these anti IE issue. I’m certain Firefox will fail under serious attacks if it ever becomes the most popular web browser.
If there’re any serious developers here, it’s strange how you can ignore the fact that your projects will never be without bug, not to mention a browser that is highly attacked by equal if not better (than microsoft) developers all around the world.
We should be thankful that Microsoft is trying to improve while Firefox is pushing them to do that.
And please do not be naive and believe all the news that’s spreading around by email and stuff, haven’t we lived in this world long enough to realise how ‘wrong’ information can be spread easily? If we can believe Microsoft is spreading a false statement, which I believe they’ll be ultra stupid to spread such a statement, why can’t we accept that there’re some anti Microsoft guys out there spreading it to make them look bad? We’ll never know the truth. Who knows the truths of this world anyway.
Just some personal opinions.
August 3rd, 2005 at 10:03 pm
btw, being a web developer who may not be as pro as most of you out there, I’ve struggled with IE also, but who can tell me that Firefox has NO bugs at all?? There’re quite a few times I see web pages that IE display correctly but Firefox displays wrongly. Maybe those are the minority.
Let’s just sit back and wait patiently for the final product, although like some will say, there’ll never be a final product, esp with Microsoft.
Nevertheless, I’ll enjoy whatever Microsoft comes out with, as long as I’m the one who chose to use the browser since its free.
August 4th, 2005 at 3:25 am
If you look at past Microsoft releases, there have been betas and then public betas for most (if not all) of the products. There are alpha and pre-beta releases as well, to even smaller and more focused groups. Those participating in the beta programs get first crack at them. Microsoft’s MSDN subscribers are often the first wide beta test, then a public beta that follows, then a release candidate and finally a release. My guess is the release is likely to be timed with or near the release of the .NET Framework 2.0 and new versions of SQL Server and Visual Studio.
August 4th, 2005 at 9:10 am
I’ve been using the beta for a few days now… its crap. Just like I thought it would be. They still dont even support full CSS1!
For those of you who would like to try the beta out and are not MSDN members… download from a torrent site. I hear they are already there.
August 4th, 2005 at 2:56 pm
> We should be thankful that Microsoft is trying to improve while Firefox is pushing them to do that.
If Microsoft had their way, there wouldn’t be a Firefox/Mozilla etc. to push them. They’re doing all they can to kill any competition that might make them compete on a level field or do anything that looks like innovation.
Perhaps the OS movement should take a leaf out of their book and patent things like popup-blockers, tabbed browsing etc. M$ are quite happy to copy everyone else’s ideas and then fly off the handle if anyone tries to copy anything they claim to have come up with.
August 5th, 2005 at 1:24 pm
http://toastednet.org/BOFH/wb-ie7b1.rar
IE7 DownLoad
>=]
August 5th, 2005 at 6:58 pm
“Comment
Hmm.. wonder what’s the big fuss abt all these anti IE issue. I’m certain Firefox will fail under serious attacks if it ever becomes the most popular web browser.
If there’re any serious developers here, it’s strange how you can ignore the fact that your projects will never be without bug, not to mention a browser that is highly attacked by equal if not better (than microsoft) developers all around the world. We should be thankful that Microsoft is trying to improve while Firefox is pushing them to do that.
And please do not be naive and believe all the news that’s spreading around by email and stuff, haven’t we lived in this world long enough to realise how ‘wrong’ information can be spread easily? If we can believe Microsoft is spreading a false statement, which I believe they’ll be ultra stupid to spread such a statement, why can’t we accept that there’re some anti Microsoft guys out there spreading it to make them look bad? We’ll never know the truth. Who knows the truths of this world anyway.
Just some personal opinions.
Posted by: reon Aug 3rd, 2005 @ 8:03 PM MDT”
I agree! FireFox is trash, im so sick of hearing about how good firefox is i could puke on you people. firefox is a buggy POS.
firefox < IE7
August 5th, 2005 at 7:02 pm
I can’t imagine a public beta of IE7… That’d just be ridiculous. Firefox may do a public, but how many 65 year old grandparents use Firefox? Can you imagine how many people would download a new version of IE if they heard there was an upgrade… and how many emails and tech support phone calls they’d get saying “Yahoo mail is broke”? Microsoft is smart: leave the preliminary beta testing to people who beta test software all the time and know how to report issues and such. I use IE7 and I can definately tell you its not ready for ANY type of mass distribution.
August 9th, 2005 at 1:10 pm
i’ve downloaded the new IE7 and i totally don’t like the look of it!!
they need to keep everything the same as previous browsers. Look at where the toolbar is, it’s ridiculous. atleast give people the option to change it!!!
the refresh button has moved in an awkward spot.
Microsoft needs to keep things consistant, instead of changing the look etc.
for the general end user they will find it really awkward to navigate around sites etc.
if they make it look like IE 6 or even Firefox + the rss feeds button & + the tabbed browsing, i will uninstall firefox for sure, but atm firefox has it in the bag, because of the look!!
hope they change the look for BETA 2 or i will be very disappointed!!
August 23rd, 2005 at 11:01 pm
i have downloaded the new IE7 but i can not use it fue to the fact that i have windows 200 they should really give a carefor there former operating systems besides XP…. maybe IE7 is good. but ill never know and thats sad
August 27th, 2005 at 8:46 pm