Microsoft finally launched its latest and final version of Internet Explorer 11(IE 11) for Windows 7 on Thursday.
The latest web browser developed by Microsoft Research Redmond was initially released for Windows 8.1 devices in Oct. 17. Now, in less than a month, the software giant has decided to extend it to Windows 7 users.
Microsoft is very much into quick releasing these days most probably due to its rivals Chrome and Firefox releasing updates every now and then.
Internet Explorer 11 offers support for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics and HTML5 video in the absence of plugins, it has also strengthened its internal web development tools and has improved support for web standards, as well as some features that weren't included in the earlier versions.
Subjectively, Microsoft claims that its latest IE 11 is better than Chrome's latest on the WebKit SunSpider Javascript benchmark. However, in nearly all the tests conducted, Google's newly released Octane 2.0 benchmark, it beats Internet Explorer 11, according to the The Register.
With Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 getting the new Internet Explorer soon, Windows 8 will get left behind because Redmond has no plans of making any version of Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 8.
The sole way to experience the new and updated Internet Explorer 11 is to install the Windows 8.1 update on each computer.
Microsoft also announced that in a matter of weeks, it will start rolling out IE 11 as an automatic update for Windows 7. They will prioritize those systems that already have the previous Internet Explorer 11 preview installed.
The largest software company has surely put in a lot of effort into making it touch-friendly. "IE11 really is easier to work with on a touchscreen device than its competitors," said Neil McAllister for the Register.
Those who can't wait for the automatic update can download IE 11 for Windows 7 here.
