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When you check out a new browser, the most exciting aspect is usually not what it does but what it promises--and the beta release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.0 is no exception.
Some of IE 5.0's new features are truly exciting. But many of them seem half-baked, as if the development team had a brilliant idea and then ran out of steam when it came time to carry it out. This will be a must-have upgrade, but it's still a work in progress.
If you use IE 4.x, you won't need to spend hours learning the new version: Its enhancements are consistent with what you already know.
Some features you might have expected to get in the older version are finally available in this one. For example, when you add a framed site to your Favorites collection, you save the actual page you want- -not just the location of the external frame. And when you hit the Edit button, you get a choice of any of your installed HTML editors to use in editing the source code.
But some of IE's longest-lingering problems, such as incomplete Web integration, are yet to be addressed.
IE 5.0 is scheduled to ship during the first quarter of 1999. If you're not comfortable with beta versions, you might want to wait. But my experience has been that shipping products (and not just from Microsoft) are just as buggy as betas. Since this version seems stable so far, you might want to give it a try. You can download it from Microsoft's site (see link at right).
The much-improved Setup Wizard lets you pick any component or combination you may want to install. The minimum installation-- browser only--will take up 22MB on your hard disk. A complete installation, including multimedia and authoring tools, takes up 65MB.
I tested IE 5.0 on a Windows 98 system, and the upgrade...