Microsoft Upgrades Internet Explorer -- But Not Much Is New
Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser is one of the most-used software products in the world. It is the main tool through which most computer users view the entire Internet.
But IE hasn't had a significant overhaul in five long years. That has allowed competitors like Mozilla's Firefox and Apple's Safari to leap ahead in terms of features. In fact, many of the savviest Web users have abandoned IE in recent years, partly because of the growing feature gap and partly because of IE's persistent security problems.
Now, finally, the software giant has produced a major new version of the browser, called IE 7. It's a fundamental rewrite, especially in the areas of user interface and underlying security.
But competitors haven't been standing still. Mozilla is almost done with its Firefox 2.0, a more minor update of its browser than Microsoft's undertaking.
I have been testing IE 7, and I agree with Microsoft that it's much improved. If you are a confirmed IE user, upgrading to this new version makes perfect sense, because it is likely to be more secure and its new features make Web browsing better. But if you are already using Firefox, IE's main competitor, I see nothing in IE 7 that should make you switch. It's mostly a catch-up release, adding to IE some features long present in Firefox and other browsers. The one big feature in IE 7 that wasn't already in Firefox, a built-in detector that warns against fraudulent Web sites, is being added to Firefox in version 2.0.
The new Internet Explorer, which is free, runs only on the latest revision of Windows XP and the forthcoming Windows Vista operating system, while Firefox offers nearly identical versions for Windows, Macintosh and Linux computers. IE 7 will be offered automatically to Windows XP users -- gradually over the next few months -- via the Windows update program. Microsoft will also make it available for manual download.
The biggest change in the new IE is tabbed browsing, the ability to open multiple Web pages in a single window, and to switch among them by clicking on tabs at the top of each page. This allows you to quickly scan a whole bunch of Web sites at once. It's especially useful if you group bookmarks (which Microsoft calls Favorites) into a folder, and then open all the pages in the folder at the same time.
In my view, tabbed browsing is the best improvement to Web browsers in years, and it has long been built into Firefox, Safari and other browsers. Microsoft's implementation is OK, but is curiously inconsistent. You can open all of the sites in any folder in your Favorites list in tabs, with a single click. But this works only if you are viewing your Favorites in a side panel at the left of the screen. If you have a folder of Favorites in the Links toolbar at the top of the screen, as many power users do, there's no way to open all of the pages it contains with one click, as you can do in Firefox.
The other big change in IE 7 is that there is now a search box built into the user interface itself, which allows you to perform searches without first navigating to the home page of the search service. You can choose which search engines this feature uses. Again, this feature is old news for Firefox and Safari users, but it should eliminate the need for add-on toolbars, like those offered by Google and Yahoo.
The overall interface of IE has also been cleaned up and simplified. The menus are now hidden, and the little animated flag in the upper right-hand corner is gone. You can make the menus appear if you like, and you will need to do so to get to some features, such as the screen that lets you organize your Favorites.
The only really notable new interface feature in IE 7 is something called Quick Tabs, which lets you view, on one page, thumbnails of all the pages you have open in tabs. You can quickly switch among them, or close any of them, from this view. It's very nice, but reminiscent of an Apple feature called Exposé.
On the security and privacy front, Microsoft says it has made many changes under the hood to harden IE against hackers and the authors of malicious software. The browser now warns you when you are at a Web site that may be a fake (called a phishing site) and moves you off that page unless you insist on going back to it. There is also a much easier way to clear out all traces of your Web activity, another catch-up feature.
But the most important new security feature in IE 7 -- something called Protected Mode, which stops Web sites from changing your computer's important files or settings -- will work only in the new Vista version of Windows, due next year, not in Windows XP.
Ironically, the improved security in the new version may erode IE's greatest strength: its broad compatibility with Web sites. Some sites may not work properly in IE 7 because techniques they used are blocked by the new security features.
In addition to matching IE 7's antiphishing warning feature, Firefox 2.0 will feature a spell checker, a system for suggesting popular search terms, and a way to resume where you left off after a crash, among other things.
The new Internet Explorer is a solid upgrade, but it's disappointing that after five years, the best Microsoft could do was to mostly catch up to smaller competitors.
微软新版IE欠缺新意
微软公司(Microsoft)的Internet Explorer互联网浏览器是全球最常用的软件产品之一，绝大多数电脑用户都是通过它来浏览整个互联网。
不过，五年来IE没有做过重大改进，这给予Mozilla公司和苹果公司(Apple)等竞争对手抢占先机的机会，它们在各自的Firefox和Safari浏览器上推出新功能。事实上，近年来许多明智的互联网用户已经放弃使用IE，一是因为在功能方面IE已落后于对手，二是因为IE始终存在安全问题。
现在，软件巨头微软公司终于推出新版本的IE 7浏览器，对以前的版本进行了彻头彻尾的修改，尤其是在用户界面和系统安全上。
然而，微软的竞争对手也不甘落后。Mozilla即将完成Firefox 2.0，不过版本的升级程度要弱于微软的IE 7。
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我对IE 7进行了测试，并同意微软有关IE 7有了很大改进的说法。如果你是忠实的IE用户，那么这个升级版本再好不过，因为它更安全，而且新增的很多功能让其成为一个更好的浏览器。如果你已在使用IE的主要竞争对手Firefox，那么我觉得IE 7里没什么东西值得你改旗易帜。IE 7基本上是个跟风的产品，只是把Firefox等软件中早就有的一些功能加入进来而已。内置在IE 7而Firefox不具备的欺诈网站警告功能也将被加入到2.0版本的Firefox中。
这个新版本的IE是免费的，但只能在最新版本的Windows XP和即将推出的Windows Vista操作系统上使用，而Firefox的Windows版、Macintosh版和Linux版大体上都基本相同。在未来几个月内，IE 7将通过Windows自动升级方式提供给Windows XP用户，同时微软也会推出手动下载方式。
新版本IE中最大的变化是新增了选项卡式浏览功能，即在单个浏览器窗口中打开多个网页，并通过点击网页上方的标签来切换页面。这样用户可以快速浏览很多网站，尤其实用的是，如果你把收藏的页面放进一个文件夹，就可以同时打开文件夹中的所有页面。
在我看来，选项卡式浏览是近年来对浏览器的突出创新。Firefox和Safari等浏览器早已加入这一功能；但奇怪的是，微软在这方面却始终遮遮掩掩。在IE中，如果屏幕左边有一个收藏夹列表，用户点击一次就能打开收藏的各个网站；但如果你通过屏幕上方的“收藏”功能进行操作，就无法通过一次点击打开网页，而Firefox却可以做到。
IE 7中另一重大变化是在用户界面加入搜索框，使用户进行搜索时不用先进入搜索网站的首页；用户也可以自己选择使用哪个搜索引擎。不过，这对Firefox和Safari用户也不是新鲜事了。当然，这样一来，谷歌(Google)和雅虎(Yahoo)等提供的工具条也就无用武之地了。
新IE的整体界面显得更为简洁。菜单呈隐藏状态，右上角的旗帜动画也不见了。用户可以选择显示菜单，如果你想使用菜单中的某些功能，如整理收藏夹，也必须显示菜单。
IE 7中唯一真正值得注意的新功能叫做快速选项卡式浏览，即在一个页面上查看所有打开页面的缩略图，方便用户快速切换或关闭页面。这个功能不错，但是令人想起了苹果浏览器中的Expose功能。
在安全和隐私方面，微软表示已经作出结构性的调整，加强了新IE抵御黑客和恶意软件进攻的能力。IE 7会在用户登录欺骗性网站（网页仿冒）时发出警告，并关闭该网站页面，除非用户坚持进入。此外，IE 7还增加了一项删除历史纪录的更为简便的方法，这也是跟风之举。
不过，IE 7最重要的新增安全功能──“保护模式”，即防止网站修改用户电脑中的重要文档或设置──只能在明年新推出的Window操作系统Vista中才能使用，Windows XP用户与此无缘。
具有讽刺意味的是，新IE更为强大的安全性却可能弱化IE最大的优势：与各类网站的广泛兼容性。一些网站在IE 7下可能无法正常浏览，因为其所用技术不能被新增的安全功能接受。
为与IE 7的网页仿冒功能抗衡，Firefox 2.0将推出拼写检查、对常用搜索词提供提示的系统，以及在系统崩溃后回到从前浏览器状态的途径。
新版本的IE有了长足进步，不过令人失望的是，微软五年磨一剑，推出的却不过是个跟风弱小竞争对手的产品。
Walter S. Mossberg
