In my view, you're looking for trouble. The reason it's a beta test
version instead of a released version is that it still has bugs in it,
and Microsoft is looking for beta test users to inform them of other
bugs as they are found.
Unless you have a spare computer to install it on, and enjoy doing
beta testing of software and reporting of bugs to Microsoft, I think
installing such beta software is just looking for trouble.
Yes, you can install the beta version, but for almost everyone I
strongly advise *against* doing that, and waiting for it to be
released.
I've been following that advice since the beta version came out in September
last year, and I've been growing more and more impatient for the final
release ever since. I was just going to throw caution to the wind and try it
out, but it seems my wait may be over because according to one source I
found this morning it's probably coming out at the end of this month. Today,
even.
<Microsoft is reportedly gearing up to release the Release Candidate of
Internet Explorer 9 by the end of January 2011. The Redmond company has yet
to confirm or deny third-party reports that claim to already have the IE9 RC
availability deadline, or to comment in any way on the matter at hand.
Various sources are indicating that IE9 RC will actually drop on January
28th, 2011 (via LiveSide and sp3ciali5t), but the reports need to be taken
with a grain of salt, until the software giant will offer official
confirmation of the release date. IE9 hit Beta in mid-September 2010, a
launch which Microsoft marked through the Beauty of the Web event in San
Francisco. Following the release of the Beta development milestone, the
company revealed that it wasn’t planning another Beta, but that RC would
follow instead. However, two additional releases of IE9 were offered to
early adopters, taking the number of developer Builds to seven. IE9 Platform
Preview 7 continues to be available for download even at this point in time,
alongside the Beta Build. In fact, testers can swap the core of the IE9 Beta
and replace it with the IE9 PP7 in order to get all of the benefits
associated with the latest preview release. In the three months and a half
since IE9 Beta went live, the Build was downloaded in excess of 20 million
times, a number which is bound to grow consistently, especially considering
that the Release Candidate is close. As it is the case with additional
Microsoft software, the RC signals the fact that IE9 is extremely close to
finalization, a milestone referred to as RTW (release to web), equivalent to
RTM (release to manufacturing). >
http://tinyurl.com/4na69k8
I'm going to continue with your advice and wait.
