Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 launched today

Today Microsoft has launched the new Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 version for the public. They mention it as Developer Preview version and for Web developers and Designers only.

According to Microsoft, some of the new features designed for developers include a developer toolbar and improved interoperability and compatibility.

One good thing about this release is they have finally made IE standards compliant by default.

This topic is explained in the Internet Explorer Blog. Quoting from the blog, the reason behind this:

Microsoft recently published a set of Interoperability Principles. Thinking about IE8’s behavior with these principles in mind, interpreting web content in the most standards compliant way possible is a better thing to do.

We think that acting in accordance with principles is important, and IE8’s default is a demonstration of the interoperability principles in action. While we do not believe any current legal requirements would dictate which rendering mode a browser must use, this step clearly removes this question as a potential legal and regulatory issue. As stated above, we think it’s the better choice.

The rest of this blog post provides context around the different modes, the technical challenge, and what it means going forward.

More information about IE8 Beta 1 is available at MS site.

IE8 Beta 1 can be downloaded from the MS site:

Download Now

According to eWeek.com,

“With the release this week of the first beta of Internet Explorer 8, we are finally getting a good look at the next step in Microsoft’s Web strategy. And we also can finally start to put the next generation of the Browser Wars into focus with a new version of IE to compare with the recent betas of Mozilla’s forthcoming Firefox 3?. Click here for details.