Internet Explorer 4

This technology is tentatively explored in Active Channels, the most obvious innovation in the default Active Desktop. Channels are provided free to IE 4 users as Web-based content, similar in many ways to TV programming. You subscribe to those you're interested in and can have them delivered in four ways.

The most obvious is via the full-screen mode which launches you into a customised IE window, with those pesky icons and menus removed from view. Channel Mail has the updated Web pages delivered via email, to the HTML-enabled Outlook Express if nothing else is available. The Screen Saver mode cycles through the channels available while you're not doing other work, and finally individual items can also be placed directly into the Active Desktop, such as news tickers and weather maps. The file format that allows Channels to broadcast is known as CDF (channel definition format) and is an open standard based upon the XML (extensible markup language) standard.

The Channels themselves are only as good as the content providers, and so far they're not too impressive. Almost entirely US-biased, you get a wide selection of subjects from pure newsfeeds to entertainment channels. Watching them in action, I couldn't get away from the impression that I was watching glitz for glitz's sake. There was very little that I didn't think could be presented in a simpler way. There's a large number of Channels on offer: 438 in English at the time of writing, with more on the way. It's slightly behind the 700-odd Netcaster channels that Netscape has announced, but I don't think this is a case where quantity means quality.

Push technology within IE 4 isn't limited to Channels. You can subscribe to any Web page and then have IE 4 go out and check to see whether a page has been changed, either on demand or to a schedule. Pages can also be downloaded for off-line viewing, which might in the long run balance out the huge phone bill you may have run up downloading IE 4.

The potential for the Active Desktop is impressive. Company information could be delivered right to every user's Desktop over an intranet, via Java applets or ActiveX controls. Stock quotes, traffic reports, rolling news headlines and more could all be sitting on your Desktop for you at any time. The possibilities are very interesting for Webmasters; this alone makes IE 4 a more enticing prospect than before for IT managers.

Windows browsing

IE 4's intrinsic linking with the Windows OS means you can now browse your hard disk or intranet as easily as you browse the Web. Microsoft's vision is to train users to utilise a single Explorer, which will deal with both local and Internet locations. This means that within Windows Explorer you see The Internet as just another part of the My Computer hierarchy, and within Internet Explorer, you can type 'c:' in the Address bar and see your hard disk folders. It's not entirely seamless, with the familiar icons of one Explorer or the other being abruptly replaced when you switch locations, but it does work when you're used to it.

More importantly, the Web integration throughout Windows is very thorough. The Favorites folder now cascades off your Start Menu, giving you access to your frequently-used Web sites. The Taskbar becomes a container for toolbars; a Quick Launch toolbar is supplied as standard, pre-configured to launch IE 4, Outlook Express, your Channel selections or let you see your Desktop with one click. Also, there are Desktop, Links and Address toolbars to give you instant access to your folders or Web sites. The Internet is now just about one click away from any location within Windows.