IE 4.0 - UNAUTHORIZED

Internal Alpha Releases

IE 4.0 Alpha 2, November, 1996 (8.5 - 9mb, MSIE40.EXE, IE4W95.EXE, IE4PPR.EXE, IE4PLATF.EXE)
IE 4.0 Alpha 1, August, 1996 (4-6mb)

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Latest Update - Build 4.0 4.71.0225.1, November 1996 Alpha 2

This is the my first contact with IE 4.0 since the release of Alpha 1 last summer. Even though I think that I was one of the few people to get it up and running (and then only once), this version is light years beyond what MS was up to back then.

Working Features:

Browser/Desktop Integration - This is one of the most highly touted features of the forthcoming release. It has met with mix reviews from the people that I have talked to thus far, some hate it, some love it, some hate it & love it. The biggest challenge is in navigating the hard drive like it is a web site. Once you get used to single click's and the "UP" button, you are well on your way to getting the best out of the new interface...
AutoComplete - This nifty little feature has the browser completing web site URL's for you. It comes in quite handy once you have visited a few sites and used IE 4.0 a bit. It appears that AutoComplete looks at the URL's that are stored in your history folder and compares that to what you are typing. If it finds a partial match, it will complete your typing with it's best guess.
Smart Favorites - Smart Favorites are a great little tool that tell you when your favorite web sites have been updated. It runs similarly to the MS Schedule Agent and can check for activity on frequently visited sites on intervals that you specify. Additionally, Smart Favorites can also download a local version of the page so that you can stay up to date without necessarily going online.
Start Menu Wizard - All I can say is "Thank You Bill!". This is one feature that should have been in Windows95 all along, and it has been added with IE 4.0. Simply put, the Start Menu Wizard allows you to quickly organize your Start Menu by choosing a few straightforward options from a Wizard, and Windows takes care of the rest. It will even go so far as to place all of your stray help files and readme.txt's in the same folder for easy access.

Not Ready For Prime Time...

This build is strictly an Alpha (read pre-beta) release so there are still quite a few features that are not working. This is more than likely due to the fact that IE 4.0 is downloaded as several component pieces (dubbed "Active Setup" that are installed as you push the browser to different limits.

For instance, because the "plug-in download site" seems to be internal to MS for the time being, the Active Desktop is sadly silent. The interface looks great, a nice little vertical bar pushed quietly off to the right just waiting for the latest news from MSNBS or PointCast, but alas, nothing is being pushed.

Additionally, there are a few holes in the ActiveTheme's (as picture in the screenshot above and to the right). Nothing serious, but some missing HTML here and there. While I'm on the topic of the ActiveTheme's, I sincerely hope that MS includes some alternatives to the wishy-washy faded globe on the white background, it truly gets real boring, real quick. I don't think that this will be an issue in the forthcoming release, but if you don't speak up...

ActiveThemes should prove to be interesting, for the most part they are simple HTML pages that are called up when you click on a given folder. The HTML that get's displayed depends purely on the folder you are opening. Neat little trick if you ask me.

The Windows Explorer as we know it from previous incarnations is still around, but like the BORG, it is a curious mix of technologies. The right hand side of the window is new-style IE 4.0 folders, and the left, the old style Win95 Explorer pane. It will be interesting to see how this evolves and how well users adapt to it. The Explorer, like Microsoft's other disk navigation apps have always been the hiding place of "change-haters". It is likely that this group will hate Explorer's new UI.

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