Internet Explorer 8 Gets Released - Worth a Go?

Rob Williams · 03-23-2009, 03:23 AM

From our front-page news:

I'm not sure how I missed this, but last Wednesday, Microsoft finally released the next major version of Internet Explorer, 8.0. Made first as a beta last spring, Internet Explorer 8 touts most of what you'd expect to hear from a new browser release... better performance, better security, more features, et cetera. But does IE8 live up to all the hype - or better yet - compete with the fierce competition?

According to Nick Mokey at Digital Trends, not so much. He mentions that while IE8 is an incremental improvement over 7, it doesn't bring enough useful features, or enough refinements, to change the fact that it's a browser for those "people who don't care". After taking a quick look at the browser myself, I'm going to have to agree. In my quick tests, the performance didn't seem that great - on an application level, not a page-loading level - and the browser is simply ugly when run under Windows XP.

As you can see in the screenshot below, there is a lot of dead space in the toolbar, and rather than importing my Firefox toolbar bookmarks, it simply left it all blank. I also find the location of the address bar a little strange, but that's definitely a matter of opinion. IE 8 isn't a horrible browser, but I'm definitely not impressed in my initial experiences, and I can for the most part agree with Nick's points as well. Microsoft really needs to scrap IE as a whole and build a new browser from the ground up. It seems to be the only way we're going to get a browser that's truly competitive (you know, ignoring the fact that IE owns 75% of the browser market).

The premise behind Accelerators seems to be taking one step out the usual copy-and-paste routine we all play while Web browsing. Normally, for instance, you might find the address of a business, copy it, open a new tab, load Google Maps, and paste it in. With Accelerators, you can highlight it, click a blue icon beside the highlighted text, hover over “Map with Live Maps” and the map will flash open beside it in a square mini window.

Source: Digital Trends

Greg King · 03-30-2009, 12:15 AM

I am actually liking IE8 but not enough to sway me away from Firefox. I use Internet Explorer at work because we have to for certain tests. I am a bit disappointed in the slow opening of new tabs and have encountered a few rendering issues but by and large, IE8 isn't bad at all.

Rob Williams · 03-30-2009, 02:05 AM

Given all of the bad press the browser has been receiving, I'm curious what it is you like most about it?

03-23-2009, 03:23 AM	#1
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	Internet Explorer 8 Gets Released - Worth a Go? From our front-page news: I'm not sure how I missed this, but last Wednesday, Microsoft finally released the next major version of Internet Explorer, 8.0. Made first as a beta last spring, Internet Explorer 8 touts most of what you'd expect to hear from a new browser release... better performance, better security, more features, et cetera. But does IE8 live up to all the hype - or better yet - compete with the fierce competition? According to Nick Mokey at Digital Trends, not so much. He mentions that while IE8 is an incremental improvement over 7, it doesn't bring enough useful features, or enough refinements, to change the fact that it's a browser for those "people who don't care". After taking a quick look at the browser myself, I'm going to have to agree. In my quick tests, the performance didn't seem that great - on an application level, not a page-loading level - and the browser is simply ugly when run under Windows XP. As you can see in the screenshot below, there is a lot of dead space in the toolbar, and rather than importing my Firefox toolbar bookmarks, it simply left it all blank. I also find the location of the address bar a little strange, but that's definitely a matter of opinion. IE 8 isn't a horrible browser, but I'm definitely not impressed in my initial experiences, and I can for the most part agree with Nick's points as well. Microsoft really needs to scrap IE as a whole and build a new browser from the ground up. It seems to be the only way we're going to get a browser that's truly competitive (you know, ignoring the fact that IE owns 75% of the browser market). The premise behind Accelerators seems to be taking one step out the usual copy-and-paste routine we all play while Web browsing. Normally, for instance, you might find the address of a business, copy it, open a new tab, load Google Maps, and paste it in. With Accelerators, you can highlight it, click a blue icon beside the highlighted text, hover over “Map with Live Maps” and the map will flash open beside it in a square mini window. Source: Digital Trends __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

03-30-2009, 12:15 AM	#2
Greg King I just kinda show up... Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Indiana Posts: 2,081	I am actually liking IE8 but not enough to sway me away from Firefox. I use Internet Explorer at work because we have to for certain tests. I am a bit disappointed in the slow opening of new tabs and have encountered a few rendering issues but by and large, IE8 isn't bad at all. __________________ "It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan System: Intel i5 2500K \| Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 \| 16GB G.Skill DDR3 \| Crucial M4 128GB SSD WD 1TB Black x1 \| WD 2TB Green x 1 \| XFX Radeonn HD 6850 \| Corsair H80 Water Cooler Fractal Design R3 \| Windows 7 Ultimate x64 \| Dell 2410 x 3 @ 1920x1200 ESXi Host: Intel i7 920 @ 3.0 GHz \| Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P \| 24GB Patriot DDR3 \| WD 1TB Black x 2

03-30-2009, 02:05 AM	#3
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	Given all of the bad press the browser has been receiving, I'm curious what it is you like most about it? __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

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