Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner has revealed at the company’s annual financial analyst meeting that the first beta of the Internet Explorer 9 Web browser is planned for release in September.

According to Microsoft, Internet Explorer 9 will be a big improvement on their current offerings as it features considerably improved standards compliance and functionality, a boon to Web Developers and netizens alike. Compared to Chrome and Firefox in terms of development however, in seems IE will remain stuck in catch-up limbo.

Internet Explorer 9 will NOT be available to XP users.

No release date has been announced, but most believe that the final version will not arrive until 2011.

source zdNet