Internet Explorer 8: features & benchmarks
Published: 19 Mar 2009
A broad-brush look at the recent history of the web browser goes like this: after its victory over Netscape at the end of the 1990s, Microsoft failed to push forward with the development of Internet Explorer (IE). Mozilla successfully plugged that innovation gap, and the market share of the open-source browser has been growing steadily over recent years.
However, the competitive threat to Microsoft has now expanded, with Google and Apple entering the picture. Chrome and Safari are both quick and compete with each other to be the fastest browser at JavaScript processing. On top of all that, Microsoft is facing another innovative browser in the form of Opera, which could increase its market share from its present low base.
Despite appearances to the contrary, Microsoft has been busily engaged in browser development and Internet Explorer 8 has finally been completed. For these tests, we used a version that Microsoft says is only marginally different from the RTM build. The final version of Internet Explorer 8 is now available for download for Windows XP, Vista and their server counterparts.
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Internet Explorer 8: screenshot gallery
Photo Internet Explorer 8 is now available for download. Here's a gallery showing some of its main new features. [19 Mar 2009]
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