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Topic: Browser

Microsoft delivers final version of IE 10 for Windows 7

Summary: Microsoft is releasing to the Web the final version of IE10 for Windows 7 in 95 languages worldwide.

Mary Jo Foley

By for All About Microsoft |

Microsoft released to the Web the final (non-test) build of Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7 on February 26.

IE10win7touch

As of today, Microsoft is making the final bits available for download from its IE site in 95 languages. (If that link doesn't work, try this one from the Microsoft Download Center.)

Microsoft plans to begin auto-updating customers with Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and/or Windows Server 2008 R2 and higher with the IE10 "in the weeks ahead," officials said. This will start with those who are running the IE10 Release Preview. Admins who aren't ready to have IE10 pushed to their users can block it temporarily with Microsoft's blocking toolkit.

IE10 is the latest version of IE and the one that is bundled with Windows 8 and Windows RT. Like IE10 for Windows 8 and Windows RT, IE10 for Windows 7 is optimized for touch first. Unlike the Windows 8 and Windows RT versions, IE10 for Windows 7 places the URL bar at the top of the screen, not the bottom. (I've never quite understood the bottom of the page thinking with Windows 8/RT. It seems to me like one could still maximize available browsing space even if the URL bar was in the more familiar top-of-the-page position.) And as is true with the Windows 8/Windows RT version, IE10 for Windows 7 has the Do Not Track (DNT) signal turned on by default, preventing users from having their behavior automatically tracked online.

Microsoft is touting IE10's support for Web standards. Officials said IE10 on all platforms add support for more than 30 new Web standards beyond what IE9 supported, including support for new HTML5, CSS3, DOM, Web Performance, and Web Application specifications. Company officials also are saying IE10 on Windows 7 loads "real world" sites 20 percent faster, based on tests in Microsoft's labs. (I've never found IE to be noticeably fast in loading pages on my PCs/tablets, but your mileage may vary.)

Microsoft introduced its first test build of IE10 for Windows 7 in April 2011, the same time as it delivered its first test build of IE10 for Windows 8. The company went over a year between the time it delivered developer-focused IE10 for Windows 7 test builds and the updated public preview of the browser for Windows 7 in November 2012.

According to Net Market Share data, IE currently has about 55 percent of the desktop browser market share worldwide.

IEshare

Today's IE10 release does not work on either Windows Vista or Windows XP.

Topics: Browser, Microsoft, Windows, Windows 8

About

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

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72 comments
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  • It's nice to see IE back on top for HTML5/CSS3 standards compliance

    Now if only we could get site developers to stop using non standard webkit trash the web would be a lot better place.
    Johnny Vegas
    Reply 5 Votes

    • IE has been regaining share too...

      IE has been gaining share since the release of Windows 8... probably because IE 10 is the best touch-browser for Windows 8 on tablets. I wouldn't be surprised to see Windows 8 give Bing a boost as well, since it's built into so many Windows 8 apps.
      newyorkcitymale
      Reply 3 Votes

      • Now all we need is some nice ads/flash block

        I've used some tracking protection lists. They good but still not as sharp as Adsblock or Flashblock on Firefox.
        LBiege
        Reply Vote

    • Yeah I wish MS would just jump on webkit...

      Tired of doing the same stuff twice, ditch Trident plz.
      dtdono0
      Reply Vote

      • Huh?

        Why do you support a mono-culture?
        Michael Alan Goff
        Reply 1 Vote

      • That's like saying that other browsers should have jumped on IE6 extensions

        Standards are there for a reason. Coding to webkit extensions is just as bad as coding to IE6 quirkiness was back in the day.
        Flydog57
        Reply 4 Votes

      • Didn't realize webkit was part of the CSS3/HTML5 standard

        Oh, wait, that's right... it's *not*. It's the *programming library* used by some browsers to render the pages.

        If their engine is HTML3/CSS3 compliant, but your websites only display correctly with other layout engines, then it sounds like you're not designing the websites according to HTML5/CSS3 standards, but rather to the *layout engine* standards. Which is the same kind of problem from back in the day, when browsers didn't separate out the UI from the layout engine, & people would tag their sites with "Designed for Browser X" or "Best Viewed with Browser Y"...which helped lead to the development of true HTML standards in the first place.
        spdragoo@...
        Reply 4 Votes

      • webkit?

        I hope that's some type of sarcasm.
        frankwick
        Reply 2 Votes

  • Still a God Awful and Insecure POS Browser

    I'm surprised people still use IE. It is a horrible POS, always has been and always will be.
    itguy10
    Reply 1 Vote

    • Fact or opinion

      So when was the last time you actually used IE, version 1.0?
      thekman58
      Reply 10 Votes

    • Insecure POS Browser

      You talking about chrome?
      http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2011/07/internet-explorer-9-utterly-dominates-malware-blocking-stats/
      http://www.zdnet.com/comparative-review-opera-leads-in-browser-anti-phishing-protection-7000010039/

      And this awful spying chrome leads us to problems like this:
      http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/30320/false-google-chrome-malware-warning-blocks-tech-sites/

      Thanks Microsoft for the Internet Explorer 10! This is awesome, modern, utltra fast and secure browser ever!
      Mr.SV
      Reply 12 Votes

      • Is this you

        "http://browseryoulovedtohate.com/post/36807433541/do-you-know-this-guy"
        calfee20
        Reply Vote

        • oops

          This was in reply to itguy10
          calfee20
          Reply Vote

      • Awesome- crashing that is

        See my post about IE10 vs Yahoo mail. Someone did not do their homework. NOT awesome or maybe awesome crasher.
        kg7ka@...
        Reply Vote

    • Huh?

      So it's bad because previous versions were bad?
      Michael Alan Goff
      Reply 4 Votes

    • IE is not open source, so it's MS advertising driven all the way.

      The last time I used IE on a client's Win7 computer I had to fight off the MS advertising and dialog boxes with a stick. It's proprietary and has become a vehicle to promulgate MS features and Web offerings without cessation. There's always garbage coming up for some new MS install from their website to make things work.

      You probably don't realize it if you use it all the time, but spend years on Firefox or Chrome and it becomes extremely annoying, especially when the default search is set to Bing. It's like going to a circus.
      Joe.Smetona
      Reply 1 Vote

      • I like Chrome and my family likes Firefox.

        They work about the same, but they are neutral. They both work great all the time and I never have any issues with Web pages. Fortunately, web developers have discovered they have to make pages work on Chrome and Firefox also, not just proprietary IE with all it's quirks to guarantee being a monopoly.
        Joe.Smetona
        Reply Vote

        • Riiiiiiight

          I'm glad that you're not someone who would use a browser distributed for free by a company that makes more than 80% of its revenue by selling ad's.

          And let's hope that said company would not encourage web developers to litter their sites with their own browser-specific HTML features & CSS prefixes?

          And let's just hope that said company wasn't found guilty of driving vehicles around residential areas of several cities reading content from people's own WiFi networks and correlating that data with their GPS locations. And let's hope that such a company wouldn't have been found guilty of not having eradicated all illegally collected data from its systems, even though they claimed that they had.

          Oh ... and, no ... Windows users do not have to beat-off Microsoft ad's with a stick. Now ... that does, however, remind me of a different company for whom most of us do!
          bitcrazed
          Reply Vote

          • I don't have any problems with it.

            It's my preference and I've had the above bad experiences with IE. I found it very difficult to navigate through the constant dialog boxes wanting to take to the master Microsoft web site for downloads to make their proprietary stuff work. It was very annoying.

            I don't think a lot of people notice it because they use IE all the time and are used to it. For someone using open source for an extended period of time, it's noticeable and very annoying.
            Joe.Smetona
            Reply Vote

          • Your Postings

            Are you trying to monopolize this site? There are many who have opinions that differ from yours - I happen to be one of them...
            TurtleJ
            Reply Vote
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