Exploring Internet Explorer 8

Posted by Dan Farber

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Robert Vamosi and I discuss the new features and browsing capabilities of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 and how it stacks up with other browsers. The new release brings IE up to par with Firefox, Safari, and Opera, and even pushes Microsoft a little ahead of the competition in a few areas.

Internet Explorer 8 beta 2 review

Internet Explorer 8 screen shots

Internet Explorer 8 gets a massive makeover

Originally posted at Outside the Lines

Dan Farber is editor in chief of CNET News. He has more than 25 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. E-mail Dan.

Topics:: Browsers and extensions,; Windows Software

Tags:: Internet Explorer,; IE8,; Firefox

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) 25 comments


by awwase August 27, 2008 3:31 PM PDT: I think I said from few years that I will not touch that blue icon again!; Reply to this comment


by the_ricochet August 27, 2008 3:48 PM PDT: That cnet 'ball' smack dab in the middle of full-screen mode is VERY annoying and distracting. There also needs to be a size between small and full screen.; Reply to this comment

by michaelnzellinea August 27, 2008 4:03 PM PDT

Wow... Not color tabs!!!! This sounds like IE still has a long ways to go before they ever catch up to Firefox. Do these guys even check out their competition? The things he mentioned are available through Firefox as simple add-ons.

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by DrtyDogg August 27, 2008 5:11 PM PDT: some of them are available to IE through add-ons also. They are coming already on with IE though.


by wango2007 August 27, 2008 4:12 PM PDT: It's too bad people have to bash Microsoft no matter what. It makes me think the people have some kind of flaw, not Microsoft products.

Looks like Microsoft has done a good job with IE8. Now it's time for others to catch up.; Reply to this comment

by rmva August 27, 2008 4:15 PM PDT

Why does Vamosi look like he was tortured before this interview began?

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by the_ricochet August 27, 2008 4:26 PM PDT: He does look like he's under duress. Maybe Dan had a gun on him under the table.


by seanmagn August 27, 2008 4:32 PM PDT: I will commend Microsoft on upgrading IE, finally!

However, I see nothing compelling to actually use the program. They didn't talk about performance at all in the video, and IE is a pig. Any other features that they did mention are just things that Firefox and Safari have implemented way before this came out. Anything else can be a plugin in Firefox.

Unless something changes, I suppose we'll just have to wait until IE 9 to see any "real" improvement.; Reply to this comment


by hansschmucker2 August 27, 2008 5:06 PM PDT: My problem with this comment, along with the majority of coverage on the web is that they see the interface additions as an indicator for how much the technology has improved, when really it hasn't. Internet Explorer 8's interface additions may be good (or not, that's up to each person to decide: the location bar highlighting was a feature that was dropped from Firefox3, because it caused problems with people actually navigating pages, as all they saw was the domain), but from a technological point of view, MSIE8 is still a catching-up release with a (while greatly enhanced in comparison to previous versions) outdated layout system and absolutely no support for features that could actually enhance the web. It basically tries to fix what's already there (basically CSS2, the rest, like the terrible outdated DOM and Javascript engine are left as they are), but new concepts, like Canvas, SVG, dataUrls, Javascript 1.8 and the like are totally ignored.

The way I see it, this release is meant to make creating the current state of the web more pleasent (which is good and I thank Microsoft for that), while preventing technologies that compete with Microsoft's OS from getting widely available.; Reply to this comment


by bztone August 27, 2008 7:55 PM PDT: Well if this is it, I'm sticking with RSS feeds instead of browsing the site like I used to.

A pity...; Reply to this comment

by ray_mig August 27, 2008 8:26 PM PDT

I am sorry but I tried to install IE 8 beta and it bombed frequently. When I tried to go back to IE 7 it reminded me why MS is in my mind now a dinosaur on the way to extinction compared to Web 2.0 and Google in particular.

Fix it if you want us to use it... and let us remove it easily if we don't want it...!

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by dude7895 August 27, 2008 9:52 PM PDT: Its a beta, its not going to work properly. The purpose of a beta is to test. (Editors' note: Personal attack removed.)


by Chigal48 August 28, 2008 6:15 AM PDT: Thanks for being the first to try it out -- I won't based on your comment. You're right one thing we forget is how tough MS makes it to uninstall their software.


by Penguinisto August 28, 2008 7:18 AM PDT: @dude7895:

You confuse "Alpha" with "Beta". a Beta is supposed to generally work on all platforms, but may have bugs.


by MOHAMMED AL HEMEARY August 28, 2008 12:37 AM PDT: Thank 4 U brother; Reply to this comment


by dsairai August 28, 2008 4:33 AM PDT: does it conform to internet web standards?; Reply to this comment

by firefoxluva95 August 28, 2008 5:58 AM PDT

We can say it tries to conform to web standards but once again falls short a bit. It does pass the Acid2 test but totally fails the Acid3 test (no browser yet has fully passed) while Opera 9.52 scores above 70, so does Firefox 3, and Firefox 3.1 scores an 85/100 on Acid3.

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by Chigal48 August 28, 2008 6:14 AM PDT: Firefoxluv: Where does safari fit in? I like it, very smooth and speedy, however, it lakes some of plug-in features of FF, such as auto-fill in and remembering pass codes.


by Chigal48 August 28, 2008 6:13 AM PDT: Hmmm....very suspicious whether this will work. I stopped using IE because its tab navigation feature is slow, clunky and crashes....I'll try it but only give it one time use. Otherwise, it's back to FF and Safari for me.; Reply to this comment


by dusktildawn40 August 28, 2008 7:40 AM PDT: Part of this was wrong... Firefox does have an add on that allows color coded tabbing. (Colorful tabs 3.3); Reply to this comment


by dusktildawn40 August 28, 2008 7:44 AM PDT: Part of this was wrong... Firefox does have an add on that allows color coded tabbing. (Colorful tabs 3.3); Reply to this comment

by rgor September 2, 2008 3:07 PM PDT

There are few caveats to keep in mind. The bigger you are, the harder it is to implement a change. When you have a large install base, any change you make will cause the inevitable disdain, reluctance, and suspicion. As a browser, it does a decent job for the end user who has an "out of the box" experience for web browsing. Be careful what you wish for. If google has their way, all your applications, files, and daily computing will be done on their servers. I like google for search but I don't want them to succeed with this cloud computing concept. I want to own my software, use it on my pc, and have it work even when the internet is down. Also, it is dangerous to have research/marketing ad revenue based company have access to all your information and personal information...at some point, they will have knowledge of things you are not comfortable sharing with others.

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by HD80 September 3, 2008 11:13 PM PDT: I can relate completly with what you are saying where do you say that is going to far.We are I thought were able to have some sort of privicy.I It is no any of thier buss. reight.


by HD80 September 3, 2008 11:07 PM PDT: Windows update and windows live one care both recomended EI-8,MY CURRENT BROWSER,works just fine ,I have'nt had my computer acting funny,so as it is thank you very much,I will stay with what works for me for now! I have had several windows open and they load very fast;with no problems?As i said for now I'm doing fine with my current config.; Reply to this comment


by Lee_Lorenzen September 13, 2008 5:58 AM PDT: KallOut Brings IE 8 Accelerators and More to All Office Apps, IE, Firefox, Adobe Reader and Google Chrome (in the next release)

If you think you might like the IE 8 Accelerators feature, you will absolutely LOVE KallOut.

As shown on http://kallout.com/product_tour.html, KallOut offers many more accelerator pages and it offers them in floating palettes that work for selections that you do inside any of the following apps:

1. IE 6, 7, 8
2. Firefox 2, 3
3. Microsoft Office Apps: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Notepad, WordPad
4. Microsoft Outlook
5. Adobe Reader

We are also in the midst of adding support for Google Chrome in our next release.

This means that just about every major Windows app (with Mac Apps coming soon) supports a suite of Best-of-Breed Content Providers in a dynamic, context-sensitive, BestGuess Menu that suggests the ideal KallOut not just those showing Microsoft products.

Clearly, KallOut's shipping product is superior to this initial entry from Microsoft in the Selection-based Search category.

Please try it out and let us know what you think.

Thanks,

Lee Lorenzen
CEO, KallOut -- a new way to search using only your mouse; Reply to this comment