Microsoft is pledging to make some major changes to IE, and to attempt to fix many concerns with the popular browser. The company is currently considering many "fixes" to the application, which they believe will help to stop the advancing popularity of certain open source browsers like Firefox. However, it's not likely that we will see a new IE until the next version of Windows.
Officials for the Redmond, Wash., company said they will not upgrade the browser before the next release of Windows, dubbed Longhorn, which will only increase pressure from Firefox and further erode confidence due to security issues, sources said.
But because Microsoft has made the browser inextricably integrated with Windows, any upgrades will likely have to be delivered through a service pack update to the operating system, which is something Microsoft said probably won't happen. The company is looking at whether service packs might be viable, sources said.