IE7 now able to compete with pre-Alpha Firefox 0.1!

So beta 2 of IE7 is finally out. In case you don't know, a Microsoft beta 2 is usually very representative of the final product. I don't mean that as an insult, but as a compliment. Their beta 2 are actually very stable and almost usually mostly feature complete. .NET 2.0, for example, went to a go-live licence state at beta 2 and WCF (Windows Communication Foundation a.k.a. Indigo) is currently in beta 2 and in their go live stage (meaning they feel comfortable with people using it in production--Heck, I'm using it in production and it's amazing!).

IE7 is a massive quantum leap in Microsoft web browser. I mean a HUGE jump. A quantum leap not on the quantum scale, but on the level of general relativity. It's improvement over IE6 now allow IE to finally complete with Firefox pre-alpha 0.1. In a few years when Microsoft releases a minor release (what we call service-packs) Microsoft should have another major jump allowing IE7 SP1 to compete with Firefox pre-alpha 0.2.

Some day in the future IE8 will allow Microsoft's IE team to complete head on with Firefox beta 0.5! One day the Acid 2 test will be a thing of the past and IE will paint the screen red with Acid 3! Go IE team go!!

Current Acid 2 results

• See IE6W's Rendering
• See IE7 Beta 2's Rendering
• See Firefox 1.0.7's Rendering
• See Firefox 1.5's Rendering
• See Opera 8.0's Rendering
• See Opera 9's Rendering
• No image for safari--but it's PERFECT.