I know there are those who hate anything Microsoft (Hello Chris Bradley :) ) but yesterday I downloaded and installed Internet Explorer 7 to use along with Firefox.

Its very different to the old version 6, its nice to be able to open sites in new tabs much like Firefox.

One thing that is a bit annoying is that text looks like its an image sort of lightly blurred. I'm getting used to it now but its a bit strange.

Is anyone else using IE7?

Firefox, sorry.

IE7 sounds interesting, though it also sounds like a Microsoft copy of the aformentioned Firefox!

Has IE7 been released properly yet, or is it still in beta testing? For some reason my accomodation network at uni won't let me use Firefox, or anything not IE, for that matter. If IE7 is better, I could finally have a good browser that I can use...

Its still in beta currently version 7.2 I'm also using MSN Messenger Live! which is also in beta mode.

Yeah I heard about the new MSN Messenger in beta mode, wasn't sure about IE7. Thanks for the info. I'm still on IE6 and MSN Messenger 7.5.

As Chris Pritchard pointed out, I'm no microsoft fan boy by any means but I have recently been trying the latest beta version of Vista which has IE7 built in (a security problem in itself.)

I have to admit that IE7 is much better than IE6 but is still not a patch on what Firefox or Opera have to offer and from what I have read by people who have conducted in-depth testing on some of the techie sites, it still has some of the big security problems associated with IE6 that other browsers do not.

IE7 also has problems rendering many website correctly and does not pass many the standards based Acid Test. Microsoft do not like or accept using standards (just look at office.)

I use the MSN messaging service but I use an open source client called Gaim which works perfectly with all of the messaging networks (MSN, Yahoo, AOL, Jabber etc) and is faster and more stable than the offical MSN client.

I used to like Microsoft but I think since Windowes 2000 they have gone downhill very quickly with their products, services and attitudes. I always tell people that if they NEED windows for some reason then run Windows 2000 because in my experience that is as good as Windows ever got in terms of stability and usability.

In terms of security I do not trust microsoft products or updates in the slightest - I use some decent firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware scanners and use common sense when using the internet or installing / running files because most viruses/scams are social engineering based.

Chingwakabungya - it might be worth speaking to you network admin or one of the techie team to see if they can allow firefox connections because it is much safer than IE and being techie people, they most likely use other browsers themselves.