Internet Explorer 8 Final, Ready for Download

[Guest]

@armistitiu: IE6 was released back in 2001 it's ....old. It was good in 2001 but bad by todays standards. MS just wasn't releasing updates to IE while the other browsers were updating frequently.

I think MS is back in the game in a big way again though.

 

[Tindytim]

[citation][nom]jhansonxi[/nom]Not entirely true. IE is closed source while Firefox and Safari's WebCore engine are open source. In spite of the fact that any hacker can read the code for the latter two IE still has many more exploits.[/citation]
Linus' Law at work.

Since they are open source, security exploits can be caught more quickly than with IE.

 

[armistitiu]

[citation][nom]wackyphill[/nom]@armistitiu: IE6 was released back in 2001 it's ....old. It was good in 2001 but bad by todays standards. MS just wasn't releasing updates to IE while the other browsers were updating frequently.I think MS is back in the game in a big way again though.[/citation]
I was trying to tell Matt_B that IE is not part of the kernel so it has no "tight" integration.
Now about IE6 and 7 ...i believe they had patches not updates. I think upgrading and improving a browser more frequently is the way to go and btw Firefox is open source and that helps a lot.
Anyway...please don't hurt the web (use FF)

 

[bounty]

[citation][nom]jhansonxi[/nom]Not entirely true. IE is closed source while Firefox and Safari's WebCore engine are open source. In spite of the fact that any hacker can read the code for the latter two IE still has many more exploits.I would like to see some Opera exploit statistics just for comparison.[/citation]

Actually Firefox has more exploits, their only saving grace is that they are faster at patching them than Microsoft. http://www.honeynet.org/node/166 (Also this trend stays true with newer version of IE and Firefox, I just don't have links on hand.)

I'm ok debating which is 'safer' just get your facts straigh first. As for open v.s. closed, I could guess that it shows a 'professional' program has less bugs initially, but then development stops while open source chugs along the whole time. Which explains alot really.

 

[thedipper]

The IE security issues don't exist. Microsoft is able to patch its browser many times quicker than Mozilla or Apple will be able to, as seen late last year.

 

[richwag]

No IE8 for me thanks. As a web 2.0 developer, IE is the bane of my existence. IE7 is broken in so many ways one wonders what "standard" MS follows. It doesn't understand "closures" in javascript, it's CSS support is buggy and it's javascript engine is slow as hell.

Firefox is by far the best browser for web developers because of it's excellent add-ons (think firebug). Most tools for IE come from MS and pale compared to those from the open source community.

I don't understand why MS even bothers at this point. Just give up on IE. FF/Chrome/Safari are all superior browsers. Why MS dumps money into unnecessary development is beyond me.

 

[richwag]

[citation][nom]thedipper[/nom]The IE security issues don't exist. Microsoft is able to patch its browser many times quicker than Mozilla or Apple will be able to, as seen late last year.[/citation]

Security issues don't exist???? LOL. What rock have you been living under?

 

[geckoar]

I have been using IE8 beta and the only problem was that i coundnt download any files to save. So i changed to FF so I could patch games and stuff and FF is good but I missed the way IE worked...having used IE for most of my life. I have IE8 RC now and It is great I find It is very fast. The add-ons could be better but IE8 is MUCH better than IE7. Firefox 3 was fast...sometimes very fast for some websites but very slow on others. IE8 is about the same speed for all sites.

Just my 2 cents

 

[thegh0st]

where's the Opera comparison? I don't really like how Google Chrome has been collecting a 3rd place browser title by default because of the name "Google". heck if it's that easy why hasn't Yahoo made a browser?

 

[Herbert_HA]

[citation][nom]crom[/nom]Now does IE8 actually render web pages correctly? Or comply with the W3 standards? To me that's WAY more important than color coded tabs.[/citation]
That's right. And as someone said already, my anti-virus is supposed to handle my security, my browser should be fast and display things correctly anda that's what IE, no matter which incarnation, is NOT.

I understand why MS wants to keep offering a web browser, but I really don't understand why they don't make a decent one...

 

[thegh0st]

[citation][nom]armistitiu[/nom]"tight" integration?IE8 is not part of the kernel so it's a user space program and it uses windows API just like any other browser.So the speedup did not come from this. I mean if the integration was so "tight" why did IE6 and IE7 was so slow (compared to Firefox)?It's because of bad code... Anyway i think IE8 will not increase MS marketshare because i don't see any Firefox user to switch to another browser...simply because you have no reason to do this.[/citation]


...he did not say it was part of the kernel but you are being misleading yourself. IE is very much integrated into Windows functionality, to be more specific windows explorer. microsoft even admits to this if you search the web enough and admits to it on microsoft's own site. heck, ummm microsoft got sued for anti-trust practices for that very reason and that IE was not "removable".

 

[thedipper]

Richwag, Internet Explorer is owned and run by the most powerful software company in the world. It updates quicker than other companies know they have a security issue. It has security holes, every browser does and will, forever. That's how software works.

Shall we get into how quickly it starts up? The way I see it, the time Firefox and Opera take to start up, they lose ultimately towards page loading times, causing IE to clearly be quicker in the short run. You know... real users, not benchmarks.

 

[Guest]

i have just tried ie8 and i remembered why i hate microsoft products: their developpers always thnimk they know whats best for you. i wante to open a new tab and could not go beyond their information page with their own alternatives. all i wanted was to open a new tab instead of a new window. oh well, i am happy with opera anyway

 

[thedipper]

Hachem;

You not knowing how to configure the browser correctly is hardly Microsoft's fault.

 

[eddieroolz]

Trying it out now, but the RC1 and Beta 2 gave me good impressions, so I'm quite happy.

 

[thedipper]

Beware: Liking Microsoft products and giving props to the release of IE8 gets you a negative post rating!

It's not a very good system, fanboys just go through and mark down everyone with an opinion.

 

[Guest]

did anyone notice most of the tested sites are small sites of a few kB's in size?
Why couldn't they test engadget, or other large pages?

 

[bc4]

This is a huge improvement for microsoft. Much better than the RC i tried. I don't really care who has the absolute best browser, at least now MS has something on par with whats out there

 

[JubalHarshaw]

After the installation, FeedDemon went crazy, I tried FeedReader and it had the same problems. After the restoration of the system and removal of IE 8, everything returned to normal behavior. I think that IE8 have some issues and I advise wait a few months (and patches) to try it.

 

[matt_b]

[citation][nom]armistitiu[/nom]"tight" integration?IE8 is not part of the kernel so it's a user space program and it uses windows API just like any other browser.So the speedup did not come from this. I mean if the integration was so "tight" why did IE6 and IE7 was so slow (compared to Firefox)?It's because of bad code... Anyway i think IE8 will not increase MS marketshare because i don't see any Firefox user to switch to another browser...simply because you have no reason to do this.[/citation]
I didn't state anything to do with speed. It has to do with the fact that so many things inside the Windows environment like to "link" you to something that uses the IE technology or even the browser itself - here's the security risk for the OS. Windows and IE act more like brother and sister in this environment rather than what they should be, cousins (Firefox, Safari, Opera).