Simon Hendery: Microsoft plays catch-up with new IE7 browser

Some time next month, the one million New Zealand computer users who subscribe to Microsoft's patch update service will be invited to sign up for something a little more exciting than the latest security patch.

They will be able to download the software behemoth's long-awaited new web browser - Internet Explorer 7.

It's been a long time between innings in Microsoft Browser World. The current incarnation, Internet Explorer 6, has been around since 2001 - aeons on the WWW time scale.

Countless IE6 patches have been pumped down the phone lines during those years. The good news is that IE7 is promised to be much more secure than its tired, hack-prone predecessor.

IE7 was launched officially last week. Thanks to an accident of geography (New Zealand's proximity to the international dateline) the 15-megabyte update was available for download by the geekily enthusiastic on Microsoft's local website a couple of hours earlier than elsewhere.

But given that we've waited patiently for five years already, I imagine most of us won't be rushing to download. We'll be happy to wait a few more weeks until the program gets pushed out via those interminable scheduled updates to our PCs.

IE7's eventual arrival, however, is inevitable (although you can refuse to accept it if you really want to).

So what will we get with IE7? And what does its launch mean for Microsoft, its competitors and the future of humanity in general?

Through IE6, Microsoft controls 85 per cent of the global browser market, having seen off its only serious competitor, Netscape Navigator, in the late 90s.

In more recent aeons, only Mozilla Firefox has managed to challenge the giant, taking 12 per cent of the market.

IE7 is a shameless attempt to bring some of Firefox's whiz-bang innovations - such as RSS news feeds and tabbed browsing - into the Microsoft product.

Being a signed-up member of the geekily enthusiastic minority, I downloaded IE7 via Microsoft NZ's website last week.

Microsoft needed to impress with this update and the result is a slick new browser that cleverly plays the security paranoia card.

As well as being designed to overcome the security vulnerabilities of IE6, version 7 is big on parental controls and anti-phishing protection. Web address lines will flash red if you venture into unsafe web territory, such as the realm of sites set up by fraudulent "phishers" intent on gleaning your bank account details and passwords by stealth.

A comparative review of IE7 and Firefox 2 - an updated version of the challenger due for release next month - on PCWorld.com's website makes for informative reading.

The review points to IE's new and "highly useful"session-saver option - which allows users to store and reopen a clutch of favourite sites simultaneously - as an example of how the new version has brought Microsoft back into contention in the browser game.

From Microsoft's perspective, IE7 needed to impress in order to check Firefox's popularity as the innovator. While both browsers are free, the significance for Microsoft is that IE7 is the curtain raiser for its soon-to-be-released Vista operating system.

The consensus of analysts is that Vista needs a good browser to appeal to the punters and Microsoft needs a good browser to compete in an environment where software is increasingly accessed via the web rather than simply from the desktop.

Generally, however, IE7 is about Microsoft catching up on innovations its smaller rival has had for some time.

As PCWorld.com's review notes, Mozilla has effectively lapped Microsoft by releasing both Firefox versions 1.5 and 2 in the same time it took Microsoft to complete IE7.

"Of the two rivals, Firefox remains the better application," PCWorld concludes. "Since IE users will have to adjust to a new layout and interface anyway, this might be a good time to give Firefox a try, then watch IE8 play catch-up again in five years."