With Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1 set to debut next month, Microsoft has quietly closed the door on Windows 2000 users planning to adopt the new Web browser. IE7 will require Windows XP Service Pack 2 due to internal security changes that rely on Microsoft's latest operating system release.
The decision to update Internet Explorer before Longhorn arrives in late 2006 was announced by Bill Gates at the RSA Conference in February. Although Microsoft had said it was focusing on Windows XP SP2 only, the company did leave open the possibility of IE7 supporting Windows 2000.
"We're actively listening to our major Windows 2000 customers about what they want and comparing that to the engineering and logistical complexity of that work," IE team head Dean Hachamovitch wrote in February
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