Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7 Preview Due in November

Last year, Microsoft began releasing Platform Preview versions of Internet Explorer 10 that ran on Windows 7, but since the Windows 8 Developer Preview, the only way to get updates to the browser was via that latest OS version. Microsoft previously confirmed that it intended to deliver IE 10 on Windows 7. And today it provided a schedule update.

I had previously expected IE 10 for Windows 7 to appear on October 26 alongside the release of Windows 8. But this is not the case, Microsoft said today.

“As we approach general availability of Windows 8, we want to provide an update on IE10 for Windows 7,” Microsoft group program manager Rob Mauceri wrote in a post to the IEBlog. “We will release a preview of IE10 on Windows 7 in mid-November, with final availability to follow as we collect developer and customer feedback.”

No word yet on why the delay, but Mauceri notes that IE 10 for Windows 7 will include the same standards based platform for developers as does IE 10 for Windows 8. And given how the desktop version of IE 10 looks in Windows 8, it’s fair to say that the Windows 7 version will basically be IE 9 with the new underpinnings.

Microsoft says it will provide another schedule update when the preview version hits in November.