The Year Of The Web Browser

Although the so-called "Browser Wars" ended around 1998, 2006 is shaping up to be an intriguing sequel. To get fully up to speed on all the many browser comings and goings, check out my Targeting Technology podcast on the changing face of Web browsers, as well as our recent "browser wars" blockbuster review Microsoft IE7, Firefox, And Other Browsers In Four-Way Shootout.Here's the trailer. Mozilla's mild success with Firefox has galvanized Microsoft in a way nothing else has for almost a decade. You may have heard the software giant is ramping up a major new version of Internet Explorer, which is now publicly available as Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview. In case you don't want to mess around with a beta product, see it for yourself with these pictorial guides to Internet Explorer 7:

Microsoft also made the decision a few months back to pull the plug on IE for the Mac as Mozilla is launching Camino Browser 1.0, its wholly Mac-specific browser based on Firefox's browser engine. Camino is just in time to give Apple's Safari a run for its money now that IE is limited entirely to Windows.

Mozilla is also working on Firefox 2 and hopes to deliver the new usability-oriented version sometime this summer. Check out the podcast for my insights into the new features in IE7 and Firefox 2.

With all the surprising movement around Web browsers, are you thinking about switching browsers? If so, take our reader poll and let us know which one you might jump to.