Firefox architect: IE 7 'looks pretty good'

The latest update to Microsoft's much-maligned Internet Explorer is getting a plug from an unlikely source.

The third beta version of IE 7 debuted last week. Updates to the software, due for final release at the end of this year, include tabbed browsing, RSS support, a search box on a more streamlined toolbar and improved security.

Critics of the browser remain legion. But one person from outside the Microsoft campus who's got some good things to say is Blake Ross, one of the original developers of Firefox, the browser that's had IE looking over its shoulder for quite a while now. In an interview with Todd Bishop of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Ross said this of the test version: "The truth is that it actually looks pretty good."

In this case, the flattery seems to have been provoked by no small amount of imitation: "They did exactly what we were expecting them to do, which was take a bunch of time and get IE 7 up to feature parity with Firefox," Ross said. He quickly got around to adding that by the time Microsoft's updated browser comes out, Firefox should again be a couple steps ahead.

Ross also tells Bishop about the frustrations of living in a Microsoft world, the benefits of working with Google, the challenges of coping with the increased pressure that's come with Firefox' success, and the way Firefox has opened doors in Hollywood.