In my opinion Microsoft is attempting to repair their relationships with web developers with their release of Internet Explorer 8 beta preview for Developers. The keyword there is Developers. I honestly can’t remember a time in the past where Microsoft has sought out developers, like myself, to get them to to try one of their products. Not only did I get emails from my ISV representatives asking me what I thought of the product I also have gotten print mail with instructions on how to download and test the beta release of their newest browser.
If you are a member of the development community you know exactly what all of this is about. In the past Microsoft has always had the biggest piece of the browser market with their Internet Explorer product, there have been some close competitors over the years, in fact my first browser was Netscape back in the day, didn’t even know what IE was back then. Times have changed though and as of a couple of days ago I think Netscape is no more either. Mozilla is probably the browser giving Microsoft their biggest run for the money these days, in fact I know it is. In an effort to pick up a little favor from the development community they are obviously “courting us” with the release of this new “standards friendlier” browser. My thought on the matter, at least they are trying.
In my first two days of using the IE8 browser I have found a few things that are still a little buggy, probably things that we have hacked along the way to get to work in their old browsers for the most part. One other little glitch that I have found that I am planning on running down in the near future is that this blog doesn’t display the home page all of the time in IE8 but when I hit the Emulate 7 button it displays just fine. I have also found a few glitches in the way the browser handles some heavy ajax applications also but haven’t put together my personal bug list yet to send in, but I will. I am extremely anxious for my partner Greg to get the new release and pick it apart, he is more the “standards guru” in our firm than I am.
Download the Preview: Internet Explorer 8 Beta: Home Page
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