Images and code from the latest build of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7 browser show up on web sites.
Images and programming code from the latest beta test version of Microsoft’s upcoming Internet Explorer 7 browser have already emerged on the Internet, apparently in leaks from developers.
Images show the tabbed interface that IE will borrow from competing browsers such as Opera, Mozilla Firefox, and Netscape. Several of the images are of Chinese web sites and include Chinese characters, perhaps giving an indication of the source of the leaks.
Sites such as ActiveWin.com, JCXP.net, and Addict3D.org have been featuring images of the Beta 2 version of the browser and discussions of its merits.
Some sites even had links to places on the Net where the code could be downloaded. Microsoft asked at least one site, JCXP, to remove the links, but not before perhaps thousands of users had already downloaded the beta code.
Some users who downloaded the file had trouble getting the software to properly validate on their systems, however. The build also required them to delete their previous version of IE.
‘Part of the issue they have is they need to get the code out to as many people as possible.’ -Michael Cherry,
Directions on Microsoft
The Redmond software giant has said it plans to open the Beta 2 preview to the general public sometime this quarter, but has given many developers an early taste so they can modify their existing applications to run more smoothly with IE7 and take advantage of its new features.
Shares of Microsoft closed down $0.06 to $26.35 in recent trading Monday.
RSS Made Really Simpler
The new browser includes an easy way to subscribe to RSS (really simple syndication) feeds just by clicking on a prompt that appears in a window within IE. The browser then adds the feed to the user’s “favorites” menu.
The software also includes a Quick Tabs feature that displays the contents of several web pages within a single IE window. By clicking on one of the thumbnail images, users can expand the web page to the full window.
The leaking of the screen shots at least serves to publicize the upcoming release and may not be that much of a setback for Microsoft after all.
“Part of the issue they have is they need to get the code out to as many people as possible,” said Michael Cherry, lead analyst for Windows and mobile at the research firm Directions on Microsoft.
He isn’t sure how accurate some of the screen shots are. “You don’t know if it’s an internal build to test as a prototype or the next beta they were going to release to the public anyway,” he said.
The company said it intends to share more information about IE as it gets closer to the date of release this quarter of the next official beta version, but cautions users not to run the leaked code.
“Microsoft encourages customers interested in testing a pre-release version of IE for Windows XP to wait until the code is available from Microsoft,” said a statement from the company. “Microsoft continues to build on the Internet Explorer 7 features delivered at beta 1. However, at this time, we have nothing to announce in regards to features or timing of this build. “
However, Microsoft has been keeping a blog that informs the public at large, as well as developers, about new features in IE.
Erasing History
For example, the company said earlier this month that it is enabling users to easily flush the history of previous web sites they’ve visited from the browser. This used to be a somewhat laborious task with earlier versions of IE.
The “Tools” menu will now have a “Delete Browsing History” feature that will be able to erase temporary Internet files, cookies, history, form data, and passwords, according to a posting on Microsoft’s IEBlog by Uche Enuha, a program manager working on the user experience team.
“Back in IE6, you would have to spend a lot of time looking through various places on your computer to get rid of all the relevant information and possibly still miss some critical information,” he wrote.
“Now with the ‘Delete Browsing History’ feature, we are giving every person the ability to clear all their browsing information from one location with a click of a button and the peace of mind that the job was done right,” he added.
Microsoft would probably like to have some peace of mind that its programming code won’t be leaked all over the Internet.
Meanwhile the company has been developing the next version of its Windows operating system, Vista, along with IE7. Both are expected to ship later this year. Microsoft has been enhancing Vista’s security features as well. In the latest build, developers have discovered that Microsoft provided a two-way firewall.
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