IE8 Beta now available

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Fast on the heels of yesterday's announcement, they have a beta version out:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/getitnow.mspx

Apparently it does install on top of IE 7 (isn't that bright) but there is a way to switch to IE 7 rendering mode.

They have some interesting new features in here with these "slices" and "activities" bits. Not sure what I think about those... Activities seems much like what Opera's had for ages with the ability to right-click on selected text and go directly to services like dictionary, encyclopedia or translations. Slices seem to be just a microformat - this implementation is kind of interesting.

Edit: Is it just me or does anyone else hate how browsers all insist on installing their own bookmarks? Irritating. Have to remove them every time. I must admit that Opera is a bad culprit with this, installing a huge library of bookmarks. At least they don't put it back in when you upgrade.

AyntRyte's picture

He has: 145 posts

Joined: Jun 2004

I got it earlier and wasted about 15 minutes before I got bored with it Laugh

They have: 99 posts

Joined: Feb 2008

I hate that too Megan. I wouldn't mind an option on install that asked if I wanted them, an option to remove them all simply rather than deleting one at a time or I'd even settle for them all to be grouped in one folder.

Greg K's picture

He has: 2,145 posts

Joined: Nov 2003

Interesting, check out the memory requirements:

Windows Vista: 512Megs
Windows XP: 64Megs

-Greg

Hafsoh's picture

They have: 108 posts

Joined: Jan 2008

Even if IE10 will be released, i will prefer firefox lol..

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Yeah, but we have to test in IE, that's the important thing. I hope they will keep us up to date on the timelines for IE 8 and keep releasing beta versions so we can fix anything that needs it well ahead of the release.

JeevesBond's picture

He has: 3,956 posts

Joined: Jun 2002

Naturally, no IE release would be complete without some Embrace, Extend, Extinguish tactics built-in. Methinks this is IE6 all over again. Laughing out loud

They have: 12 posts

Joined: Apr 2008

Hmm, now if only they can convince people to upgrade from IE5 we'd be set.

_______________________________
Make your own homepage
My own personal website
what is new on the web

Michael James Swan's picture

He has: 400 posts

Joined: May 2008

I personally do not like Internet Explorer since I know for a fact that it sends data back to Microsoft without my consent. I used bandwidth monitors for this and even when I had no homepage and it was just about blank, it would start to send and try to receive data as soon as I click on the icon to open it.

I did not even have an internet connection so what ever it was, was being done internally.

I prefer Firefox or Opera.

I shall check it out and if I like it, I shall post back, otherwise, let’s say that I dislike it, EH.

Heck I am even going to make a post in My Blog about it. LOL Check it out if you want.

Edit:

So, I have finally downloaded IE 8 BETA, Installed it and gave it a 10 minute test run...

It has some nice new features and I quite like the developer tools.
Although when I was typing I did notice quite a large delay in the reaction speed compared to what I was typing.
This then ended up crashing the browser and so now I am back on Firefox posting here.
I still have IE 8 BETA installed and shall give it another go later in the day.

They have: 4 posts

Joined: Jun 2008

first beta crashed before I could really - test beta 2 has been anounced for august cant wait!!
but despite all our moaning the majority of users are on IE so its here to stay

They have: 91 posts

Joined: Jun 2008

Hopefully it will be a significant improvement on the current version which is undoubtedly my least favourite browser.

Want to join the discussion? Create an account or log in if you already have one. Joining is fast, free and painless! We’ll even whisk you back here when you’ve finished.