In this story on the inquirer Bill gates pretty much confirms that a new version of Internet Explorer is finally being made.

Last I heard, there wasn't going to be an IE7 till the next version of Windows (Longhorn). I guess Firefox usage figures have kicked them into action.

William Gates said at the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco yesterday that IE 7 was on the drawing board.

He said that the new version of IE will be released for preliminary testing this summer. It will have new protections against viruses, spyware and phishing scams.