With the final release of Internet Explorer 7 available for download, a question comes to mind. What next? Where does Microsoft go from here? What should be expected from the Redmond Company? Well, in all fairness those are actually three questions. But they do share a common ground.

First off, Microsoft has still some work with Internet Explorer 7. As of yet, the Redmond Company and its partners have made available only English versions of the browser, additional IE7 versions are in store. "After lots of late hours and a few pre-release builds, the IE Team is happy (and a bit relieved) to say that the final version of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP has arrived. Look for IE7 in other Windows-supported languages over the coming weeks," stated Nick White, Microsoft Product Manager. Keep your eyes on Softpedia, I will write a whole article latter on this subject alone.

"That said, we're not done," confirms Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft General Manager. "Even as we put the finishing touches on Windows Vista and release all the remaining language versions of IE7, we have already started work on the next versions of Internet Explorer." As of now, Microsoft has failed to reveal its plans for the future, but Hachamovitch promised to give a heads up for the forthcoming products.

"We definitely plan to release on a regular basis," promised Dave Massy, Senior Program Manager on the IE team. "Exactly when the next release will be is difficult to predict and we still have plenty of planning and work to do. You can be assured that it will not be five years until the next release of IE, though we are planning the next two versions now."

It is to be expected of Microsoft to aggressively push Internet Explorer 7 on the market. Also, the release of IE7 will impact Microsoft's share on the browser market where the company has been losing ground to Mozilla. But as Firefox 2.0 from Mozilla is lagging behind IE7, having recently reached Release Candidate 3, it's safe to assume that Microsoft has a consistent advantage.

Only time will tell if IE7 will be able to break Microsoft's descendant trajectory on the browser market, but as Internet Explorer 7 requires mandatory validation of the operating system, its impact will be limited only to genuine copies of Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Professional x64 and Windows Server 2003 SP1. The last statistics released by the Redmond Company indicated a total of 60 million failed validations. That's 60 million users of pirated software that won't be using IE7.

To compensate, not only Microsoft but also its partners will be marketing Internet Explorer 7. Yahoo, Weather.com and USA TODAY will all make available customized versions of the browser for download. Also, financial institutions and security vendors such as PayPal and VeriSign will get behind the browser and support its adoption.

"Security is a top priority for PayPal, and we encourage our customers using Windows to download and use Internet Explorer 7," said Michael Barrett, chief information security officer for PayPal Inc. "The new Internet Explorer 7 browser has significant security enhancements, including features that help customers protect their personal information when browsing, communicating and transacting online."

"Making the consumer experience more secure is paramount to maintaining consumer confidence online," said Patrick Gauthier, senior vice president at Visa International. "Microsoft's security improvements in Internet Explorer 7.0 will certainly further this endeavor."

"As the industry leader in Web site authentication, VeriSign believes that Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 7 browser will help increase user confidence and help make consumers more secure when using the Internet," said Tim Callan, product marketing director at VeriSign Inc. "VeriSign has always been on the leading front of offering the most current technologies to help secure consumers online, which is a concept that Microsoft brings to life with Internet Explorer 7. We encourage users to move to the new browser."

Additionally, Microsoft has announced that, come November, the browser will also be delivered as a high-priority update via Automatic Updates. The Redmond Company advises to enable blocking measures by November 1 to manage the automated deployment of IE7.

"We think it'll take several months to complete the distribution worldwide. The IE Team still encourages Windows XP users to upgrade to Windows Vista when it becomes available to receive the additional benefits of IE7 in Windows Vista, such as parental controls and Protected Mode. Windows Vista is targeted to be available to volume license customers in November and all other customers in January 2007, although as we've said before, the exact delivery date will be driven by the quality of the final product," revealed Nick White.