Microsoft plans to unveil a public beta of Internet Explorer 7 in the first quarter of 2006, according to a posting on the company's Internet Explorer Blog.

"We want to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to try a pre-release version of IE7 and tell us how it works with their websites, their applications, their add-ons, and how they use the web overall," wrote Dean Hachomovitch, general manager of Microsoft's Internet Explorer team.

A first beta of Microsoft's forthcoming browser was released in October to a select number of testers through the Windows Vista Technical Beta Programme, MSDN and Technet.

Internet Explorer 7 is Microsoft's next-generation browser which will include improvements in security and usability. Users will, for example, be notified when they visit a known phishing website, and the new release will offer tabbed browsing.

The final version of the application has been promised for the summer of 2006. It was originally scheduled for release together with Windows Vista, which is slated for release in late 2006.

Source: Vnunet.com