Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 went on a limited beta release today.

Microsoft last updated its web browser in August 2001 - when mobile phones still had monochrome screens and the Enron business empire was invincible. There are a couple of surprise for some people it seems; users with search toolbars from Yahoo! and Google have discovered that these vanish. Other third-party toolbars designed to block pop-ups or aid with form filling appear to be working normally, according to reports from readers of The Register.

There are good reasons for Microsoft disabling third-party toolbars in an early Beta test version of the software - it's only available to Vista beta testers, and is delivered either as part of Vista itself or as a download for Windows XP, so it reaches only a few thousand people. For anti-competive reasons however, Microsoft is unlikely to have the finished product work this way. We'll have to see. It's good to see the new version finally making an appearance thought - it's been a long time coming!