Just posting an update that Microsoft has announce that they would be releasing IE version 8 on the first quarter of next year.
The general manager for Internet Explorer, Dean Hachamovitch, said that “Our plan is to deliver the final product after listening for feedback about critical issues.”
“We will be very selective about what changes we make between the next update and final release. We will act on the most critical issues. We will be super clear about product changes we make between the update and the final release,” he added.
The giant browser also states that they will be very open to suggestions and they will not make releases if they are not ready yet.
And what would we expect? Here is a detailed article by IT PRO and I am posting some of the excerpts from them.
Microsoft has promised that it’s making major investments in improving performance, which you don’t see in the beta. And while there have been indications that the final release might be available in November, Microsoft hasn’t named a firm release date; instead it’s the now-common response that the product will ship when it’s ready.
While that’s sensible from a software development point of view, it makes planning ahead harder for business – but you can start preparing now, even without the final feature list. Because end users are likely to install the new browser themselves, you’ll want to know how you can manage and support it. Improved security means you’ll want to upgrade sooner rather than later, as web-borne threats become an increasingly significant vector for malware.
Ironically, the significant improvements in standards support in Internet Explorer 8 can break sites designed for previous versions, so you’ll want to schedule tests and updates for both internal web apps and your external web site. You can mandate the browser your own employees use for internal apps but your public site will need to be ready for the new browser.
If interested, read the full article at IT PRO.
