When you go to the web page on Microsoft’s site to download the public beta of IE7, there’s a big title in the middle of the page that reads “We Heard You.” Apparently, they forgot to add the word “Finally.” IE7 is nothing but browser catchup, a dollar short and many years too late. Microsoft has always relied on the fact that since they control the OS for 90%+ of the computers on the planet, and they put their own and only their own browser on the desktop, that a similar number of people will use IE for that reason and that reason only, which is why most people have used a browser so ancient, unsafe, and generally crappy.

But now, with Firefox finally taking a bite out of their market, they’ve gotten off their lazy asses and have begun to upgrade the browser to include many features that have existed on other browsers for several years now. And even with that, they can’t help but be snide about it: when you install the browser, IE demands that you acquiesce to having your copy of the Windows OS “validated.” You feel like you’re going into a movie theater and they want to check your bags for contraband Milk Duds. If you wanna use this browser, you gotta let Microsoft check your pockets first to see if you stole any of their other stuff. Real smooth.

The release is not fully stable–it crashed once soon after I started using it–but it does show that Microsoft paid attention to what the other browsers did well, and pretty much copied them outright. IE7 now has tabbed browsing, better security (so they claim), smaller toolbar/comtrol areas, RSS feeds, and finally–finally–they figured out how to print web pages without chopping off the right side of the content. You’ll recognize a lot of smaller features that you’re familiar with in Firefox or Safari, transplanted into IE7. But aside from a little redesigning, some eye candy, and a few small tweaks, there’s nothing much new here.

Unfortunately, a lot of people will ballyhoo this, and many will remain with IE because it’ll now be “as good as the other browsers.” The thing is, it’s taken 3-4 years for IE to catch up with other browsers, and it is just as likely to fall years behind again. Why reward Microsoft for being lazy and inattentive, and catching up by ripping off the competition years after the fact?

Just get Firefox.