There’s no final release date set yet, but Microsoft has made the Beta 2 of its new IE8 browser available for download by consumers – folling up on the promise by Bill Gates that it would be available before the end of August.
With a smart address bar that uses previously typed URLs to predict a requested address, better tabbed browsing and the previously-disclosed In Private privacy feature, IE8 offers a lot of improvement over its predecessor, and will be more standards compliant.
James Pratt, a senior product manager in the IE development team, told Computerworld:
"Beta 2 is suitable for all users. In that respect, it’s a much broader beta."
He refused to be drawn on a full release date, saying only it will be "sometime before the next release of Windows" which is due in 2010. However, he did concede that 2008 – others have said IE8 will come later this year – “would fit within that time frame.”
