It's unclear when Microsoft will finish work on IE10 for Windows 7.

IE10's predecessor, IE9, reached beta in September 2010, or six months before the March 2011 launch of final code. IE9 made release candidate about a month prior to the browser's official debut.

If the IE10 on Windows 7 release next month is, in fact, analogous to a beta -- in that case Microsoft would likely dub it a "Consumer Preview" -- users may not see a final until near the end of April 2013. On the other hand, a more polished sneak peek, perhaps tagged as "Release Preview," could hint at a launch before the end of 2012.

Whatever schedule Microsoft adopts, the company has already made moot analysts' predictions that Microsoft was accelerating its browser development pace. They came to that conclusion last year when Microsoft announced IE10 just weeks after the March 2011 release of IE9.

By the time IE10 appears alongside Windows 8 and Windows RT, nearly 19 months will have passed since the launch of IE9. For Windows 7 users, the stretch could be more than two years.