Got Windows 2000? No Internet Explorer 7 for you

The next version of the Internet Explorer browser will be available to a variety of Microsoft OSes, the product team has revealed - but Windows 2000 looks likely to be absent from the list.

According to the official IE7 blog, the browser will be available on operating systems other than XP SP2.

A blog posting by Dave Massy, a programme manager on the IE team, reveals: "We currently plan to make IE7 available for Windows XP SP2 and later. This will therefore include availability not only for the 32-bit version of Windows XP SP2 but also for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 SP1 both of which are due to be released soon."

However, the IE7 team are keeping quiet on the subject of Windows 2000. "We have heard the requests for support of Windows 2000 but have nothing to announce at this time," the posting continues.

Details of IE7 first surfaced in February, when Bill Gates announced that the new look browser would ship separately from the next generation of Windows, code-named Longhorn.

The new IE will be available in beta form from this summer.

Anyone hoping to get their hands on the next Outlook client similarly early, however, will be disappointed. The latest Microsoft email program will debut alongside Longhorn.

"The Outlook Express team is hard at work on great functionality for the new version of Outlook Express, which is shipping with the next release of Windows. There are no plans to ship the new version of Outlook Express before the next release of Windows," Massy adds.