Microsoft leaks Internet Explorer 9 screenshot

Microsoft's Russian branch publicly posted a screenshot of the new Internet Explorer 9 user interface, with a look into what users can expect as Microsoft tries to steal some of its lost marketshare back from rivals.

The Internet leak was a mistake and has been since taken down by Microsoft Russia, but not before the image and some of the details were already discovered by several websites.

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Rather than expand on menu and add-on buttons that can be found in IE8, Microsoft decided to clean IE9 up to offer a sleek, refreshed design. The browser's search and location bars have been combined into a single bar, just like Google Chrome.

The back/forward buttons are similar to Firefox, with the back button slightly larger than the forward button. IE9 also includes regular browser menus and window tabs that will be located at the top of the browser window.

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A Home button, Favorites button and a search button are located at the far top right of the screen.

Since the release of IE7 in 2006, Microsoft has continually tried to simplify IE to remove additional features users were relatively uninterested in using.

The tech giant's Internet Explorer remains the most used Web browser in the world, but it faces significant pressure from Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and other Internet browsers. IE holds a 60.74% control (recorded in July 2010) with Firefox in the No. 2 spot with 22.91% control. Chrome (7.16%), Safari (5.09%) and Opera (2.45%) round out the top five.

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When using Windows, I typically use Firefox and Opera as my main browsers, but I have dabbled with Flock and Google Chrome. I've increasingly used IE over the past year, but am not ready to use it as an every-day browser. I like the refreshed design of IE9, and look forward to seeing what else Microsoft has prepared for IE9 Web surfers.

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