Microsoft finally unleashes finished Internet Explorer 8
Trumpeted as the best Web browser ever created, Microsoft’s now finished Internet Explorer 8 will be officially released to the public later today after more than a year of progressive beta testing, feedback appraisal and feature tweaking.
The latest iteration of the world’s most popular browser will be available as a free download from 16:00 (GMT), with software titan Microsoft claiming that it will provide Web surfers with boosted speed and performance, unparalleled levels of security and a significantly more user-friendly interface.
“With Internet Explorer 8, we are delivering a browser that gets people to the information they need, fast, and provides protection that no other browser can match,” enthused Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer.
According to browser usage figures for February collated by Net Applications, Internet Explorer presently holds some 67 percent of the market, with Mozilla’s Firefox and Apple’s Safari some way behind with 22 percent and eight percent respectively.
Microsoft will likely be hoping the emergence of its new browser will help stem its gradual decline in the online arena, which, while still ruled by Internet Explorer, has lost almost 25 percent of the market since 2004, while Firefox, Safari, and Google’s recently overhauled Chrome browser have all posted notable growth.
Some of the new features users can expect to enjoy in Internet Explorer 8 include: Web Slices, which allows for the monitoring of favourite Web sites and delivers notifications whenever those marked destinations are updated; and Accelerators, which enables users to ‘right click’ and carry out simple tasks, such as finding an address on a map, without having to navigate away from the site they’re visiting.
In standing behind its bold security claims, which will probably not sit well with fans of security stalwart Firefox, Microsoft has said Internet Explorer 8 offers platform-leading online protection that works to block up to four times as many malicious Web sites than other rival browsers.
With its dominance in the browser market not quite as potent as it once was, Microsoft’s drive to reinvigorate its Internet Explorer platform, is almost bound to place renewed focus on gathering complaints of anti-competitive practice.
These complaints are emanating from many of the Redmond-based company’s rivals, and also the European Commission, which believes Microsoft is guilty of choking the market and breaking antitrust laws by bundling Internet Explorer as a default accompaniment with the Windows operating system.
