Windows 7 was a poor stepchild for a while when it came to Microsoft's latest Web browser, Internet Explorer 10. The new browser was available with Windows 8 at that new operating system's launch, and later became available as an optional preview update for users of IE9 under Windows 7. That is no longer the case, with today's official launch of IE10 for Windows 7.
Internet Explorer 10 brings far greater support for HTML5 Web standards, faster performance, and leading privacy protection for Web surfers.
Of course it's understandable that Microsoft's browser team would be focused on the company's newest OS, but it wasn't likely they'd keep the Windows 7 user base of more than 700 million waiting for too long. On Friday, PCMag spoke with Microsoft's Ryan Gavin, general manager for Windows Internet Explorer, and Rob Mauceri, group program manger, for some insight into the strategy behind the IE10 launch. Mauceri noted that Windows 7 is still a modern OS, no doubt referring to its support for DirectX 11, which is required for the browser's graphics hardware acceleration speed-ups.