My view of the world is partly framed by my computer screen, so I found it nearly impossible to ignore the clamor this fall about new Web browsers. At the end of August Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) released a beta version of Internet Explorer 8, which was followed a couple days later by an online comic book that announced Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) launch of Chrome, for Windows only.

And who could ignore the buzz in October about Microsoft's SearchPerks, an incentive program with prizes for those willing to sift the Web via its search engine Live Search? Or the fact that yesterday Google announced a new way for users of its search engine to customize their results, ranking and annotating them?

I wondered why these big public companies considered browsers so important, why they had spent the money to update them and give them away for free over Labor Day weekend--and even to reward me to search online. So I rolled up my sleeves, downloaded, read some and talked to a stock analyst.

I was not the only one to notice some similarities in the two new browsers: Both offer private browsing (Web surfing without leaving any history) and crash recovery (so that only the specific tab involved in opening a faulty Web site fails not the whole browser application).

Yet each browser has innovations. As reporters and reviewers have noted about Internet Explorer 8, for example, Accelerators allow you to highlight a term to use it as a launch pad for such applications as mapping, translating and e-mailing. The Web Slices feature lets you plant a snippet of a favorite site atop your browser; you'll be alerted as it's updated.

Chrome sports what Google calls a "streamlined" look. The browser is designed as a giant box, with its features tucked neatly inside for you to pull out. Chrome can also showcase within your browser screen nine small views of your most-traveled Web sites. BusinessWeek points out that it's the "wizardry" under the hood that really matters and that enables this browser's applications to run fast.

These browser makeovers come, says Scott Kessler, senior director of information technology at Standard & Poor's Equity Research, as browsers and search engines have increasingly become linked. "Companies are ... appreciating the increasing relevance of the browser and search in terms of how they communicate with the world, users, customers," he says. "A lot of applications that formerly ran on computers or desktops now operate within the confines of the browser itself."

It's not the endlessly customizable interface that the open-source-hungry are begging for, but Microsoft's next beta release of its next-gen browser, Internet Explorer 7, will fix problems with some popular features when it comes out some time in August. Jeremy Reimer from arstechnica notes that the design of previous releases seems "bizarre" and confirms that users won't be able to change the layout -- with "the menu bar being sandwiched between the address bar and the tab bar" -- in Beta 3 according to a recent Microsoft chat.

In a bit of rather technical mumbo-jumbo about caching behavior (why you care: it greatly increases bandwidth requirements in the Beta 2 version), developer Eric Lawrence explains some of the fixes that will be available on the IEBlog.

Last week, the developers announced the official name of the new browser would be "IE7+" or "Internet Explorer 7+" rather than tying it to the Vista moniker (as Tony says, " 'The version of IE7 in Vista' doesn't roll off the tongue as easily...")

One noteworthy takeaway from Google's Wednesday analyst call (liveblogged by Brian White) is that Google does not have plans to build its own browser. 

With Google expanding in so many directions, it is worth noting that Google's recent expansion into the desktop space via Dell doesn't mean it will be going one step further with a desktop Internet browser.

This makes sense as Google recently partnered with Firefox and as CEO Eric Schmidt states, people are content with the current browser options: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Opera, so there isn't a demand for Google to develop an alternative. Google, "would not build a browser just for the fun of building a browser," he says. 

Schmidt did however voice his concerns over Microsoft's upcoming releases of its new OS Microsoft Vista and the prepackaged new release of Internet Explorer. Schmidt's concerns have similar undertones to Netscape's prior arguments over anti-competition -- that by prepackaging and other possible integrations, Microsoft will use it's dominant position on a user's desktop to drive their searching towards MSN.

With Google having reprioritzed on 'search', could Schmidt's concerns touch on Chairman Gate's allusions to MSN re-emerging when the stage and timing is set?

Microsoft's next-next-next gen browser, Internet Explorer 7, has a search box in the upper right corner of the browser window. It goes to Google, right? Heh. I was just testing you. No, it goes straight to MSN's search engine - where, of course, Microsoft gets all the ad revenue.

According to a New York Times article, Google is complaining about this tactic to both the U.S. Justice Department and the European Commission, insisting that it smacks of Microsoft's infamous anti-competitive practices in the '90s. Currently, MSN has an 11% share of the search market, whereas Google rocks a 49% share. (Yahoo! is at 22%, in case you're keeping track.)

None of the previous IE browsers had included default search tools, although Firefox, Opera and Safari have included them (featuring: Google, but offering a drop-down menu) for a while now. Microsoft argues that, after all, a user can change the default search engine (and I'm sure I'm not the only one who realizes the typical consumer, won't).

I'm not a fan of anti-competitive practices but... who's the monopoly here? Did someone say something about 49% of the market? That's awfully close to a majority. If the consumers don't like it, there's always Firefox, where Google still reigns supreme.

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Microsoft hopes to stop the bleeding.  The Washington Post  reported today that Microsoft is ready to test its new version of Internet Explorer - IE7. 

The Post reported that Microsoft has been slowly losing IE users each year.  Last year IE controlled 88.6% of Internet Web surfers.  That number dropped to 84.7% last month.  The big gainer was Firefox.  Its use jumped more than three percent from 6.7% to 10%.

You know Microsoft doesn't want to risk any part of its near monopoly.  Most people who leave Microsoft's cocoon do so because of safety concerns.  IE can be a big target for virus writers and more and more people are concerned about safety while Web surfing.

Microsoft believes the new version of its Web browser will answer users safety concerns.  IE7 will include color-coded warnings when users try to access a suspicious Web site.  Other new features will allow users to open several frequently used Web sites at once.  Also, you should be able to print Web pages without cutting off the right side of the page - I can't wait for that one.  Improved search features also will be included. 

The final version will be out at the end of the year.  If you are a brave sole and want to try it out early, you can download it at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx.  Personally, I'm not an early adopter when it comes to new Microsoft releases.  I prefer to let others find the bugs.

I'm sure we all hope Microsoft really does improve safety with this new version.