Re: IE 9 Update
The release date for the final version of IE9 is unclear, but Microsoft says it will be available "shortly".
It should be noted that the primary reason no date has been given for the final version of Internet Explorer 9 is that, as a public release candidate, it will be tested for any showstopper bugs by the mass-public. Although feature complete, and stable, the software is now a candidate for release. If no bugs whatsoever are found, release candidates can very well become final iterations of software. This does not happen often, however, and an evaluation of the release candidate by the public at large will help Microsoft find any last minute bugs before development goes dormant and/or private again. RC can signify that Microsoft could find no bugs internally. If the release candidate is not for testing, and is just a technical preview before a final release, that should be disclosed openly.
Compared to other browser development, like Firefox or Chrome, this is a different development model that has been adopted. A large portion of Chrome has been published as open source, and Firefox, itself, is completely open source. Anyone can download the latest nightly build of either browser and submit code changes as contributions. In 2008, Google was releasing up to ten releases a day of dev builds - and source code. This allows for real-time feedback and entire areas of free development/code contributions over the Internet. You will not see these browsers enter release candidate much, since they are already being actively tested by an open community - and feature updated - on a regular basis.
For some people, what release candidate vs. beta is and how these browsers are developed invokes some level of mysticism. In this case, it is a bit weird, since IE has always used its unique development model. That model, arguably, made Netscape leave the building back in the 90s. However, the resurgence of new browsers, in my opinion, has come from a demand for timely, regular updates and better support for W3C web standards. A few years ago, in an interview, Bill Gates distinguished IE7 to be different than IE8 in that it promised to have frequent updates. Unfortunately, someone changed that to security updates, but IE8 still proved to be a better browser than its IE7 contemporary. By this time, however, a large number of Internet users began adopting Firefox and Chrome in droves.
I will not say that one browser is better than another, because I use them all. And I do like IE9. I simply hope more feature updates will be released as opposed to security patches due to constant vulnerabilities. If this becomes possible, I personally believe IE will become a major success once again.