According to InfoWorld, Microsoft Corporation demoed the preview release
of Internet Explorer to developers yesterday in London, England. The new
product is more than a simple browser upgrade, however, and offers a
Desktop environment that is transparently mixed with Web browsing.
The new environment will be available to developers in early March,
according to Microsoft. The final release is due in mid-Summer as a stand-
alone product. It will also be included with Memphis, the next major
upgrade to Windows 95, due by the end of this year.
Internet Explorer 4.0 comes bundled with Front Pad (an HTML editor), a
personal Web server, NetMeeting 2.0, and other Internet-related
applications. New features include AutoComplete (which recalls previously
-visited URLs as you type), SearchPane (which displays search engine
results), and a new "push" technology Microsoft calls Channels. Using this
method, content the user subscribes to is delivered to the desktop via
these "channels." Additionally, bookmarked Web sites are now available
directly from the Start menu.
"IE 4.0 integrates the Web with every aspect of the PC," said Andrew Lees,
director of desktop and Internet at Microsoft U.K.
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