As Bill Gates gets dethroned from his spot as the World’s richest man, Microsoft has launched the new version of Internet Explorer ( aka the IE 8 ) at the MIX08 conference. The beta is out for download for testing purposes. Though at the MIX08 conference, the browser has been shown to have passed the Acid2 test, some users aren’t still happy about it. Phillip Lennsen writes :-
You know you’re installing an important program when you need to reboot your computer to finish the setup. When you need to reboot twice, you know you’re installing something really important. Well, that was what happened when I just installed the new Internet Explorer 8 Beta on Vista.
Neither do I have Vista running on my laptop, nor do I have any affinity for the new IE8. Especially after hearing of the dual rebooting requirement. The interface from the pictures available online doesn’t seem different from its predecessor.
So what’s new about it?First things first. Microsoft is embracing Facebook. And so, they have done something similar to the Flock browser by integrating Facebook into the browser. Users will now be able to get status updates et al from the left-hand sidebar.
What’s next? eBay integration. IE8 uses a new technology aptly called “Webslices”, to integrate webservices to update users about new statuses ( similar to feeds) without actually visiting the website.It even enables users to subscribe to specific portions of a webpage and add them to the favorites.
And something again on the lines of Firefox (how predictable). And that is Restoring session in case of browser crashes.
Apart from Webslices, which integrates pretty much all the “new services” that IE8 is projecting (from Live Maps to Me.Dium), IE 8 promises better functionality with AJAX pages. What did you think about the new IE8? Please post your comments.
Pic Courtesy: vscarpenter
