IE 6.0 beta?

January 29, 2001 8:54 AM

IE 6.0 beta? It looks like they leaked a copy (Win 2000 only). Many screenshots. More integration with MSN, sidebars (explorer bars), media player, etc.
posted by tremendo (18 comments total)

Ironically enough, this site forced my Netscape 4.75 browser to a grinding halt. Maybe it's For Your Eyes Only...
posted by Succa at 9:00 AM on January 29, 2001

They have 14 screenshots of new bookmark management, rendering webpages (wow, ie can do that now?) and one interesting one, a new search form.
posted by sonofsamiam at 9:19 AM on January 29, 2001

Alternative link
posted by tremendo at 9:20 AM on January 29, 2001

Wow, it finally looks like they're making a professional web browser. Those of us who surf all day ("Why yes, this *is* work related!") need power tools, and I'd much prefer they be integrated into the browser than through some shoddy third-party add-in.


Oh, and that search customization thing isn't new, that dates back to at least 5.0.

posted by anildash at 9:27 AM on January 29, 2001

Any word on the degree of HTML / XML standards support?
posted by harmful at 9:31 AM on January 29, 2001

It's frustrating that it's in MS's best interest to ignore the standards in favor of their own approach.

Standards = all browsers work and the customer chooses the best browser for their needs.

No standards = you're forced to use the browser with the most market share, the market share for that browser goes up, designers produce for that market, etc.

posted by jragon at 10:58 AM on January 29, 2001

jragon: what are you talking about? Since when do standards have anything to do with meeting the lowest common demoninator?
posted by milnak at 11:00 AM on January 29, 2001

Since when do standards have anything to do with meeting the lowest common demoninator?

All current television signals can be received by units that are B&W, color, HDTV, projection, tube, or even shower radios, because of a standard.

The problem here is that there is a standards committee, but Microsoft has the lion's share of the market and feels it can do whatever the heck it wants.
posted by hijinx at 11:12 AM on January 29, 2001

Exactly. If all browers follow strict standards, then it doesn't matter which one you choose, because everything works cross browser. Microsoft's first priority is to create a solid reason for you to use IE over all the other browsers. Everything in the interest of standards and the web takes a back seat. If they can implement standards support while still giving everyone a good reason to stay with IE, then I don't see why they wouldn't go for it in order to get the watchdogs off their back, but their main goal is still the increacement of Microsoft market share.
posted by tomorama at 12:00 PM on January 29, 2001

Yes, and Netscape has had such a *good* history of following standards!! (rolling eyes upward)... How shall we count the ways... <center>, <blink>, etc. etc.
posted by yarf at 1:46 PM on January 29, 2001

Right in the middle of looking at this site, everything slipped off-line... but not before they were apparently told by Microsoft that they weren't allowed to give away the beta.
posted by crunchland at 2:59 PM on January 29, 2001

Anyone have alternate links to the beta dl or screenshots at least? The site is down
posted by grank at 3:04 PM on January 29, 2001

Yes, and Netscape has had such a *good* history of following standards!! (rolling eyes upward)... How shall we count the ways... &lt;center>, &lt;blink>, etc. etc.

Non sequitur.
posted by rodii at 4:00 PM on January 29, 2001

Oy.
posted by rodii at 4:01 PM on January 29, 2001

"To the request of Microsoft, they asked us to remove iE6 Beta..."

The screenshots are still there.

The alternate link seems to be working.
posted by tremendo at 7:36 PM on January 29, 2001

If you downloaded it and are as dumb as I am and chose to install it, you can get a customized version of the MeFi sidebar that integrates with IE6 by downloading this registry file.

Then just merge that registry file, go to the "View" menu and choose "Explorer Bar > MetaFilter" and you're set.

(Pardon the self-linkage, etc...)
posted by anildash at 10:32 PM on January 29, 2001

I've been looking at the IE6 beta -- it's included in the latest pre-release of Whistler, the consumer followup to Win2000. In short, it's IE5/Mac for Windows. Not bad, really.
posted by holgate at 4:09 PM on January 30, 2001

MetaFilter, with Anil's MF reg hack, in IE6.
posted by mathowie at 5:11 PM on January 30, 2001