IE8 Beta is on the horizon...

[James]

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4A3CB46C-8B8D-4B93-AC73-D0BA127B58FA&displaylang=en

Beta 1 has been released for testing on the Connect site, and should be available to the public soon, I should think.

[Temmu]

what's up with ie8?  why does it exist?  does it fix anything?

[Clark76]

I could not tell what it fixes but I know I big thing they wanted to do was pass the Acid Test which it did.

Here is an older article with some info:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/19/Microsoft-to-release-IE-8-beta-1-in-first-half-of-2008_1.html

[James]

Now available to the public, er, I mean "web developers and designers":
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/default.mspx

[Temmu]

i'm downloading as we speak, thanks james!

from:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949787

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 is not yet compatible with the following programs:
•   DriveLetterAccess
•   Skype
•   Google Toolbar
•   Google Toolbar 5 (BETA)
•   Yahoo Toolbar (Toolbar options dialog box might not be displayed correctly.)
•   HP Smart Web Printing v3.5 (No toolbar button for HP Smart Web Printing is displayed.)
•   Real Player 11
•   Quicktime Player (Volume controls might not work correctly.

"Print Shipping Label" button on paypal.com may not work

does not work correctly in the High Contrast (Accessibility) color scheme.

Good things:
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 detects broadband connections and increases the number of connections per host to six if a high speed connection is detected. This maximum number of connections applies to any connection made to a Web server and not only to downloads.

he computer will revert to one of the earlier versions of Internet Explorer depending on your scenario, as described here:
•   Internet Explorer 6 + previously installed Internet Explorer 6 security updates.
•   Internet Explorer 7 + previously installed Internet Explorer 7 security updates.

[James]

Windows Live Hotmail does not display correctly with IE8 Beta 1 unless one uses the "Emulate IE7" feature. This is too bad since I use Live Hotmail almost exclusively these days. I'm sure the next release will have this issue resolved; I can't imagine a MS product being incompatible with one of its own! ;)

[James]

IE8 Beta 1 had difficulty rendering some eBay pages. MS has provided a download add-on for IE8 to report such pages here.
There are also some Roboform/IE8 inconsistencies as well.

[Temmu]

...I can't imagine a MS product being incompatible with one of its own! ;)

:lol: ms office wouldn't run on windows nt when it was released!

but you're ultimately right, ms has to make ie 8 work with its own products (doesn't it?)

[James]

I just uninstalled IE8 Beta 1, not because I didn't like it, but I wanted to test the removal process. I noted that IE8 appears under 'Installed Updates' in the Uninstall Programs applet in Vista. After a necessary reboot, all seems fine using IE7 again.

[James]

Interesting reading from Preston Gralla at ComputerWorld:
"Five Things you'll love (or hate) about IE8 Beta 1"

[Corrine]

Did you notice this -- 4 rows without the Google toolbar . . .

One more name change came to the Links toolbar. It's now called the "Favorites bar". The area above the web page now takes up five rows counting my Google toolbar and unlike older versions of IE it can not be customized.

http://billpstudios.blogspot.com/2008/03/internet-explorer-8-beta-new-names-for.html

I hate it that I cannot shorten the address bar in IE7. I would move it to the Command Bar like I did with Firefox.  I cannot imagine what takes up 4 rows.  I don't want to give up any screen space than I need to.

IE: http://securitygarden.googlepages.com/My_IE.GIF

FF: http://securitygarden.googlepages.com/My_FF.GIF