Microsoft today announced it would launch Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) on Monday, March 14.

The announcement was no surprise: A month ago, Microsoft issued invitations to the press for a March 14 event at SXSW (South by Southwest Conferences and Festivals) in Austin, Texas. The company had also promised to ship IE9 in the first quarter, which ends in three weeks.

IE9 will be available for download from Microsoft's servers beginning at 9 a.m. PT Monday, said Dean Hachamovitch, the head of IE's engineering, in a blog post today.

At some point after the "release to the Web," or RTW of March 14, Microsoft will start offering the new browser to Windows Vista and Windows 7 users. If it hews to its usual practice, those offers will begin to appear about six weeks later.

Full story: Computerworld