Microsoft Corp is to officially launch the latest version of its Internet Explorer web browser this Thursday. IE 5.0 will be introduced by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, and available for download from the web site immediately. IE 5 was first demonstated a year ago, and reached its first public beta version last November.
Aware that America Online Inc is likely to dump IE now that it owns Netscape Communications Corp, Microsoft is expected to emphasis corporate use of the free browser at the launch. The company told Bloomberg that it already had commitments from Compaq Computer Corp, Eli Lilly & Co and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson to use IE 5 on 300,000 desktops.
Netscape’ s forthcoming browser, the Mozzilla.org Gecko-based Communicator 5.0, is due to go into beta testing next quarter.
