"We will release a preview of IE10 on Windows 7 in mid-November, with final availability to follow as we collect developer and customer feedback," said Rob Mauceri, group program manager on the IE team, in an entry today on the .

Microsoft declined to answer all follow-up questions about IE10 on Windows 7, including when the final would ship.

IE10 will be included with Windows 8 when that OS goes on sale and hardware powered by the upgrade reaches store shelves and online outlets Oct. 26. The browser is also bundled with Windows RT, the spinoff touch-first OS used by Microsoft's Surface RT tablet.

to Windows 7 users in April 2011 as a "Platform Preview," which then ran through several iterations before being halted by Microsoft in June 2011.

From that point on, follow-up previews were pitched only to Windows 8 users.