IE 7 reviews mixed: good, not great

AS YOU MIGHT expect for a rev of the world's most-used web browser, there's been a land-grab to have a say on IE 7 now the browser is officially out there without beta-status caveats. The verdict so far: ech, not bad, pretty good even, a bit slow perhaps.

Despite coming from the other side of the browser wars, Chris Messina writes: "It's remarkable that Microsoft did push through this effort as quickly as it did, both directly answering the call of Firefox's meteoric rise and then upping the ante ever-so-slightly. If I were blunt, I would say that, from a lay-person's perspective, Firefox is like IE6 with tabs and a search box, a popup blocker and less spyware and is a bit faster. Oh, and has a nice icon."

EWeek is also admiring, calling the release a "major upgrade" and suggesting that Microsoft is "finally back in the Web browser game in a serious way: IE 7 takes major strides in reversing Microsoft's neglect of the flagship browser".

However, reviewer Jim Rapoza still isn't ready to place IE alongside the best browsers out there, in part because the release is limited to Windows. And XP only. And only then if you're running SP2. Former Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble finds that "some sites in it render very slow," especially Google Reader and Maps, compared to Firefox 2.

There is some agreement for his contention that performance is not great but of course a lot of sites optimising for the new release could change that. Also, several reviewers note that turning off the anti-phishing filter makes a big difference.

However, almost everybody finds that if you're an IE shop, this is a much better way to view RSS feeds and a nicer, cleaner UI -- and the QuickTabs function and Print shrink-to-fit option are downright loved even. ?