MICROSOFT RELEASES BETA 2 OF INTERNET EXPLORER 8

Seattle
The Economic Times

Microsoft Corp released on Wednesday a second test version of Internet Explorer 8, delivering a feature-complete upgrade to the world's most widely used Web browser.

The world's largest software maker said the latest version -- beta 2 -- of Internet Explorer, which has a market share of about 75 percent, comes with new features to enhance privacy, ease-of-use, and security.

Microsoft first released a test -- or beta 1 -- version of IE 8 in March, but that was aimed at letting Web developers take a first look at the new browser. This latest version is aimed at a broader consumer audience. The company would not disclose when it planned to officially launch IE 8 nor how many people are expected to download the test version of the new browser.

It released Internet Explorer 7 in October 2006. Microsoft has pledged to deliver more regular updates of Internet Explorer, whose lead has been chipped away by Mozilla's Firefox browser.