Finally, the much awaited browser by Microsoft — Internet Explorer 8 is finally available for download. This is the beta 1 release and I really cannot thank Microsoft enough for making the download available for the public instead of just pushing it to Microsoft Connect users only.
Of course there are new exciting features but the look most closely resembles to that of Internet Explorer 7. It is too early too say this already but it looks more like a major IE 7 update than a whole new browser itself but the thing to remember is that it is still the beta release, not the final.
Below is a list of new features in IE 8.
Activities
Activities are contextual services to quickly access a service from any webpage. Users typically copy and paste from one webpage to another. Internet Explorer 8 Activities make this common pattern easier to do.
Web Slices
WebSlices is a new feature for websites to connect to their users by subscribing to content directly within a webpage. WebSlices behave just like feeds where clients can subscribe to get updates and notify the user of changes.
Favorites Bar
In Internet Explorer 7, the Links bar provided users with one-click access to their favorite sites. The Links bar has undergone a complete makeover for Internet Explorer 8. It has been renamed the Favorites bar to enable users to associate this bar as a place to put and easily access all their favorite web content such as links, feeds, WebSlices and even Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
Automatic Crash Recovery
Automatic Crash Recovery (ACR) is a feature of Windows Internet Explorer 8 that can help to prevent the loss of work and productivity in the unlikely event of the browser crashing or hanging. The ACR feature takes advantage of the Loosely-Coupled Internet Explorer feature to provide new crash recovery capabilities, such as tab recovery, which will minimize interruptions to users' browsing sessions.
Improved Phishing Filter
Internet Explorer 7 introduced the Phishing Filter, a feature which helps warn users when they visit a Phishing site. Phishing sites spoof a trusted legitimate site, with the goal of stealing the user's personal or financial information. For Internet Explorer 8, we are building on the success of the Phishing Filter with a more comprehensive feature called the "Safety Filter"
Download and Install Internet Explorer 8
Download and install Internet Explorer 8 using the following links:
- Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Vista
- Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Vista x64 Edition
- Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Window XP SP2
- Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Server 2003 SP2
- Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Server 2003 SP2 x64 Edition and Windows XP SP2 Pro x64 Edition