Tech & Biz

Microsoft Launches Internet Explorer 8

by Rob Walker | March 19, 2009 at 05:45 am

87 views | 0 Recommendations | 3 comments

Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 8 on Thursday, putting out a browser that they claim is more secure and will integrate into the upcoming Windows 7 operating system. IE retains its place as most popular browser, although Firefox, Chrome and others are nipping at its heels.

One of the major new features is a contextual popup menu that will accelerate users ability to streamline their information searching. For example, highlighting and right-clicking on a postal code automatically brings up the address in Google maps.

Although IE is still the most popular browser, it faces stiff competition from Google, Firefox, Opera and others.
The release is Microsoft's first major browser update since 2006, when the company released Internet Explorer 7.

"Customers have made clear what they want in a Web browser - safety, speed and greater ease of use," said Microsoft boss, Steve Ballmer.

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master_jim2008

at 05:53 on March 19th, 2009

Firefox IS better IMHO, and I won't use IE unless I have to, ESPECIALLY so long as Vista requires that MS have a backdoor into your pc that they and any law enforcement agency can use at their discretion.

Rob Walker

at 05:58 on March 19th, 2009

I agree, I use firefox for just about everything at this point. I've tried all the other browsers and only when a site absolutely requires the use of IE (usually through lazy coding or testing) will I use it.

I use vista and I'm pretty sure they removed that backdoor thing, as too many people were complaining and threatening lawsuits.

Jordan Yerman

at 10:14 on March 19th, 2009

It's already driving me crazy. On the one hand, they fixed the text-entry issue that plagued beta... however, now half the buttons on the Internet look like little grey suppositories. Since IE isn't open source, developers must either wait for Microsoft to issue a patch, or scramble to adjust their own sites to compensate... the results of which could be undone with the next patch.

The silver lining: IE6 begins the march towards obscurity, which is long overdue.

(I'm posting this in IE8, and can confirm that NP works fine, though some of our buttons look like... well.)