Oct 29, 2010 07:35 GMT  ·  By

Internet Explorer 9 is almost done. The next release of the browser will also be synonymous with the final development milestone ahead of IE9 RTW (released to web). Having offered IE9 Beta on September 15th, 2010, and IE9 Platform Preview 6 yesterday on the first day of the Professional Developers Conference 2010 (PDC 2010), Microsoft is now gearing up to deliver the first and only Release Candidate (RC) of the next major version of IE.

“Platform Preview 6 is an important milestone on the way to the Release Candidate (RC). The IE9 platform is nearly complete. We appreciate your help delivering a richer and faster web that takes advantage of the new web standards the IE9 Release Candidate will support,” revealed Dean Hachamovitch, Corporate Vice President, Internet Explorer.

What Hachamovitch actually says is that there will no longer be any major new changes between IE9 PP6 and RC.

Technical early adopters and developers can easily blend IE9 PP6 and IE9 Beta together in order to get a super-Beta, a release that blends the platform of IE9 PP6 with the UX elements of the Beta.

This is the closest that they will be able to come to an Internet Explorer 9 Beta 2 release, without actually getting to download and test an IE9 Beta 2.

Internet Explorer 9 Beta has been downloaded in excess of 10 million times since launch, just six weeks ago.

Before the Beta hit, all fifth Platform Preview releases of IE9 have attracted over 2 million downloads alone.

If the size of the Beta is any indication, then Microsoft certainly has a winner on its hands with IE9.

In this regard, IE9 RC will be as close to IE9 RTW as possible, and will offer users a taste of the full Internet Explorer 9 experience, both in terms of the under-the-hood platform as well as the functionality, features and user interface on top.

There are no deadlines for the availability of IE9 RC or IE9 RTW. Hachamovitch told me earlier this year that the upcoming releases are based on quality.

Once IE9 RC will reach a specific quality standard that recommends it for release it will be offered to the public. The same goes for IE9 RTW, it will be made available when it’s ready.

If I had to predict, I’d say that IE9 RC will drop by the end of 2010, or very early in 2011 at the latest. Personally, I expect IE9 to hit RTW sometime in the first quarter of 2011. But these are both my opinions and should be taken with a grain of salt.

UPDATE: Just a small update to clear out something. Microsoft continues to harvest feedback from testers running IE9, and this potentially leaves room for a new milestone of Internet Explorer 9 ahead of the Release Candidate.

While IE9 RC could indeed be next, the company reserves the right to deliver a new pre-RC build of it will consider it necessary.

Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Build 9.0.7930.16406 is available for download here.

Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview 6 (PP6) is available for download here.