Microsoft announced today in their MSDN IEBlog that the Windows Internet Explorer 9 Beta is now available for download via the Beauty Of The Web (www.beautyoftheweb.com) portal. The Redmond-based software giant has officially dubbed this as Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview, which in simple terms is a beta release of the web browser. The Platform Preview highlights the killer features of the next Internet Explorer: faster loading of websites, HTML5 focus and seamless integration with Windows7.

Internet Explorer Platform Preview is available for Windows PC users running either Windows 7 or Windows Vista. Sorry for me and other XP users as Microsoft explained that IE9 would not be available for Windows XP users as the browser’s GPU-powered graphics uses new technologies available only on Windows 7 and Windows Vista versions. Their FAQ page also added that updates for the IE9 Platform Preview are to be expected every 8 weeks.