A new version of IE? Why bother?
I was reading this article on News.com about the updates to Internet Explorer included with SP2. One “freelance Web developer” is quoted as saying, “Internet Explorer hasn't been updated in three years, whereas every other browser has been updated in the last six months... A company like Microsoft shouldn't have the least-capable browser.”
Call me crazy, but now that it has the pop-blocker, what exactly is it that IE doesn't do? I've used Firefox on and off, but honestly, it makes no difference. Browsers don't really need any features other than the row of buttons, bookmark management and compliance to standards.
Does anyone remember around 2000? Designing was a constant pain in the ass because you had to make sure your sites worked in a half-dozen browser versions and hope that people upgraded. We've had relative stability now for years, and everyone has CSS browsers. Stuff just plain works these days. There are quirks here and there, but few show-stoppers.
When Longhorn and the new IE does come around, I can only hope that it's a beautiful, standards-compliant, managed code, elegant browser, written from scratch. I think Longhorn deserves that.