Internet Explorer 5.0 to slim down

Last week, Microsoft previewed Internet Explorer 5.0 for developers at itsRedmond campus and the word from attendees is that IE 5.0 will be extremelycustomizable and far smaller than IE 4.0. Users will be able to selectivelydownload only the components of IE 5.0 that they wish to use, instead ofhaving to grab the whole thing.

"The [IE 5.0] Internet Explorer Administration Kit will let you define which components to install or not install in great detail, so you can minimize the footprint," said a developer who attended the preview. "If you write an application that uses the HTML rendering engine but no Java, why should you have to ship an extra 4MB with the app? They put in this thing that lets you only install the HTML rendering engine."

The first beta of IE 5.0 is expected in May, while Microsoft is expectingto bundle the new browser with Windows NT 5.0, which is expected in early1999. Microsoft has also committed to a 16-bit Windows 3.1 version of IE5.0.