IE7 Beta 2 Receives Mixed Reviews
With promises of security, stability and tabbed browsing, Web users have been eagerly anticipating Internet Explorer 7. Microsoft released Beta 2 this week with great fanfare and a new Web site, but does IE7 deliver a next-generation browsing experience?
Read on for a selection of reviews from BetaNews readers and tell us what you think.
"IE7 has some good things cookin' for it that make it a solid choice for casual and frequent Web surfers. For one it is SAFER, by far it is quite safe...why? Because it turns off Active X by default, and it doesn't suffer from the same security flaws that plague IE 6.0 at the moment.
"The interface while oddly designed has nice features. The antiphishing is streamlined and handy, tabs are nice, and opening and closing them is efficient. The quick bookmarks panel is excellent and saves from the clutter of Firefox's bookmark toolbar. The default 'no page' page is easier to understand and mimics that of Firefox 1.5. Its rendering engine is much faster to boot."
-- eclipsingdivinity
"Works well for me. Nice to see the previous issue with Dreamweaver 8 (FTP Remember Site Settings) has been fixed with this release. Installation is a breeze, as is un-installation via Add/Remove. Windows Live Messenger continues to work after this release – I have found no issues there."
-- pjb
"Nicely done. I'm a hard-core FF user, but this is exactly what was needed for IE to catch up. Why did it take so long? Seems a tad slower than the OLD IE on systems without much RAM, hope they fix that."
-- mjm01010101
"Hey, it's looking better. Much more stable and feature complete than the last time I tried it. Ignore the remarks about security made by inexperienced users. Even if you use brand F and brand O, you STILL need to use an AV, Anti-Spyware, and firewall to be completely safe. Right now MS needs to take a serious look at Maxthon. Their tabbed browsing leaves IE7 in the dust. Other than tabbed browsing features, IE7 is becoming first class."
-- bobad
"Overall, I don't like it. I would like to be able to have the classic view. Also, the amount of buttons offered for the main toolbar. Either give us more options are offer sites that allow you to add them. I always liked the what's related button which isn't in the newer versions of windows/IE. Also, a lot of clutter with the context menu when you right click."
-- Browser12
"Internet Explorer 7 is way better than 6. You can have google as your main search. Go to google.com and click on the arrow google made for IE7 visitors and add it. IE7 is still in beta and has improved alot since the last builds. Hat off to Microsoft and well done!"
-- yankie
"The one thing I don't yet like is how it handles tabs. It's the same with Firefox (before you add tab add-ons), and with Opera, the tabs are limited. With Firefox with the add-on and Maxthon, you can have a tab open doing many different things. With IE you can't, you have to open a new tab manualy. I'm hoping an add-on or the MS will add this funcion to the browser. Otherwise I'm plased with it, its quick."
-- Hellcat_M
"This release of IE7 is not bad, like anything new you have to get used to it. I think it still has a way to go, it has potential, if they listen to the users."
-- minklein