Microsoft Corp. today announced the immediate, worldwide availability of Microsoft� Internet Explorer version 3.0 beta software for Macintosh, the next generation of its popular World Wide Web browser. Built for Macintosh from the ground up, Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 for Macintosh takes advantage of native Macintosh multimedia and networking technologies, giving users fast, effective performance with as little as 4 MB of memory. Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 for Mac is available for downloading without charge from the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/mac/ (connect-time charges may apply). "With Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0, Microsoft is answering the call from Mac users for leading browser capabilities on mainstream Macintosh hardware," said Brad Chase, vice president, developer relations and marketing, Internet platform and tools division at Microsoft. " By adding support for Java ™and leading HTML standards while keeping the memory footprint low, Microsoft is making the power of the Internet accessible to the broadest base of Macintosh users."