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That's the message that Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 developers told participants in an online chat today on the eve of Microsoft's first major browser release in over five years.

"We definitely plan to release on a regular basis," Dave Massy, senior program manager on the IE team, said.

"Exactly when the next release will be is difficult to predict and we still have plenty of planning and work to do.

"You can be assured that it will not be five years until the next release of IE, though we are planning the next two versions now."

Participants of the online chat repeatedly assailed the Microsoft staffers about precisely when IE 7 would be available, bugs they still see in the new browser and about features they'd like to see.

On the question of when IE 7 will ship, the answer time and again was, this month.

"There are a lot of questions surrounding the final release date and the rumors about when we're going to release," Tony Chor, group program manager for IE, said.

"As we've stated on the blog, we plan to ship before the end of the month. It will go up on the Download Center first (and will always be available there).

"A few weeks after release, we'll start sending IE7 out over AU [Automatic Updates] as well. If you want to block the AU deployment for your company, we strongly recommend having the blocker tool in place by November 1."