According to two Windows enthusiast Web sites, Microsoft (msft) put the call out for Internet Explorer 6.0 testers late last week. Just days before, Microsoft posted to its Web site the first collection of fixes and patches to Internet Explorer 5.5.
Version 6.0, according to ActiveWin.com and WinInformant.com, will get a more digital-media facelift. Microsoft will add Explorer toolbars that will allow users to work more easily with digital images, music, and video clips, the sites said.
ActiveWin representatives also claimed that Microsoft is adding new anti-virus capabilities to Outlook Express as part of the IE6 release. And Microsoft will almost certainly add the new dynamic HTML and cascading-style-sheet technologies to IE6 that it unveiled last week as part of its service pack 1 update to Version 5.5.
Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment prior to deadline.
While Internet Explorer and MSN Explorer both include the same Internet Explorer technologies under the covers, the Version 6.0 release will gain more of the consumer-oriented look and feel that Microsoft debuted last month with MSN Explorer, the Windows enthusiast sites predicted. ActiveWin officials said the new browser will include an integrated MSN Messenger bar as part of the makeover.
Currently, Microsoft markets Internet Explorer as the browser for more sophisticated, computer-savvy users, and MSN Explorer as the interface for newer users. Positioning a more consumer-friendly Internet Explorer, with Version 6.0, may prove tricky, as the WinInformant site said.
"In many ways, the new features in IE6 simply copy functionality that was added to MSN Explorer, the company's rival Web browser for beginners. IE is now being marketed as a solution for more sophisticated users," noted Paul Thurrott, the editor of WinInformant, in a note on his Web site.
In addition to releasing Internet Explorer 6.0 as a free, downloadable, stand-alone product, Microsoft also will likely make it an integrated part of Whistler, the Windows release that is the successor to Windows 2000.
Microsoft made beta 1 of Whistler available to technical beta testers last week. Whistler will be available in a variety of 32-bit and 64-bit desktop and server releases, one or more of which will be tailored toward home-based or consumer customers. Whistler is due to ship in the second half of 2001.
