Tech News
Microsoft releases trial version of new web browser
By DPA
Apr 25, 2006, 16:54 GMT

Seattle - Hoping to beat back rising competition from the Firefox and Opera browsers, Microsoft Corp on Tuesday released a new test version of Internet Explorer, its market-leading web browser.

The new browser includes improved security and a tabbed browsing feature, long available in Firefox and Opera, which allows users to open more than one web page in each window of the browser.

Microsoft, based in Seattle, Washington, is hoping for significant public feedback before releasing the final version of Internet Explorer 7 in the second half of the year. It is also offering free telephone support for the test version to consumers in North America, Germany and Japan.

'We believe that IE7 - even at this beta stage - is a significant improvement and we want as many people as possible to try it and use it,' the Internet Explorer team said on its weblog.

Over the past two years, the open-source Firefox browser has emerged as a potential challenger to Internet Explorer and is now estimated to have a market share of more than 10 per cent.