Full of “how are javascript engine is better than your javascript engine” talk, there isn’t much about the features it will include, or a reason why they dont just release a version 8.* will all these updates rather than just going for version 9, but it does highlight their focus on improving CSS support (including rounded corners), its defiantly worth a quick read and also a bookmark for those of you not already subscribed to the RSS feed.

You can find the post on the IE Developer Blog

The Microsoft Office team working on the new web version have announced in a very ironic blog post that the new service will only be supported via the following browsers

• Internet Explorer 7 and 8
• Firefox 3.5 on Windows, Mac and Linux
• Safari 4 on Mac

They haven’t ruled out support for other browsers in the future and just say to “Give it a try … and let us know if you see issues”.

They do make a good point tho andstatistics wise they have chosen the most popular browsers used (although I would swap Safari for Opera in my list) and focused on them for launch support and the fact they have left off IE6 could be a blessing for all of us.

Microsoft Office is used by almost all businesses around the world at some point or another, most of which are also still using IE6 as their main browser for one reason or another (that’s a different argument for another day). By not supporting IE6 and pushing businesses to use the web version of office instead, they are in a great position to quietly force businesses to upgrade and join the rest of us in standards compliant (almost in IE’s case) browser world. whether or not the big cheeses will go for rolling out a browser upgrade or just stick to using existing versions of office will be interesting to see but I for one hope they do…

You can read more on this story by reading the microsoft office blog post by clicking the link above.

Google is desperate to raise the profile of Chrome as so far only converting 1.4% of internet users to its browser. The clip was originally made for YouTube by a team inside Google Japan, but due to popularity they have decided to release it via popular television networks. Initially only in the US, if trials and uptake of chrome prove positive they may roll out to other countries aswell.

This could prove very successful for Google and I think this will definitely help them push up their market share. When did you last see an advert for Firefox or Internet Explorer when not on a company owned or fanboy site? I think we are definatly going to see an Upgrade to Internet explorer 8 advert very soon.

Not seen the advert yet?  here it is…

Read more on this topic @

• Official Google Blog
• The Guardian Newspaper

Hopefully this will release will mark the end of Internet Explorer 6, the bane of website developers everywhere, IE6 is almost 8 years old and now 2 versions behind the stable release, so people still running it are compromising their security with outdated software and disrupting their online experience by using a browser riddled with bugs.

I for one am taking this opportunity to draw a line in the sand and will no longer test my site designs in IE6, I will also be adding a small pop-up message to alert users visiting via IE6 that while they are welcome, they are visiting the site using outdated software and the site may not be compatible, I will also be providing a link to upgrade to IE8 (would be rude not to add a Firefox link as well )

UPDATE: (16/04/09 @ 22:04)

True to my word, if you now visit my website in Internet Explorer versions 7 or below, you will get an Information bar pop-up advsiing to update your browser.

It is believed that the next browser to come out of the Redmond camp will be based on the new and exciting Project Gazelle, recently announced by Microsoft Research.  Gazelle is a completely new browser and has been rebuilt from the ground up. It currently consists of 5,000 lines of C# code, runs with a sandboxed kernal to prevent unauthorised access to the users operating system and uses a multi-process approach to tabs meaning each tab has its own process so if one crashes the whole application doesnt freeze up.

It is also rumoured the new browser will run with webkit (the rendering engine used by safari, opera and google chrome) which is fast becoming the norm for none-IE / Firefox based browsers, I for one hope this doesnt happen as Im not a huge fan of webkit and its many flaws, but then I am an avid firefox fanboi.

Talking of rumours  (this being a theme of this post) IE 8 is expected to be released at Microsoft’s Mix 09 conference next week, Microsoft Taiwan has even given a release date of 20th March.

Having tested Internet Explorer 8 from beta 1 I have to say this is definatly the best version yet and I hope this is pushed out via one of Redmonds Patch Tuesdays as a critical update forcing users to upgrade. I will be adding an “Upgrade to IE8″ message to my site for visitors using IE7 or god forbif IE6.

Further Reading

• Gazelle White Paper

Microsoft’s latest test build of Windows 7 comes loaded with an option to delete Internet Explorer 8′s executable file – making it unusable on the OS.

The company has added its IE8 web browser as a component that can be toggled on and off via the operating system’s “Windows Features” dialog box.

According to testers, who are currently playing with build 7048 of Windows 7, IE8 is a new addition to the control panel’s list of customisable options.

However, the feature does not uninstall the browser in the latest build. Instead it simply deletes the “iexplore.exe” file. All other components of IE8 remain intact on the OS.

According to AeroXperience removal of the browser’s executable file takes two reboots and a config step to complete the process.

Many are speculating that Microsoft has added the IE8 “turn off” feature to the upcoming Windows 7 in an effort to satisfy Brussels’ anti-trust regulators.

In January the executive body of the European Union issued preliminary findings in which it said MS had violated European competition law by including Internet Explorer with Windows.

However, Microsoft, which is becoming increasingly good at writing long-winded blog posts about Windows 7 that are bereft of detail, is remaining characteristically tight-lipped about IE8’s inclusion on the Windows Features list. ®

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/05/windows_7_turn_off_ie8/ ]]> http://gavtaylor.co.uk/blog/windows-7-test-build-turns-off-internet-explorer-8/feed 0 http://gavtaylor.co.uk/blog/ie8-vs-ff31 http://gavtaylor.co.uk/blog/ie8-vs-ff31#comments Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:30:30 +0000 Gavin http://blog.gavtaylor.co.uk/?p=8 As microsoft push their latest version of Internet Explorer into RC1, our better more reliable brother Firefox is struggling to get out of beta 3. While the two companies battle it out with who will release the next version first, i thought i would bive my two cents so to speak.

I have been playing with the IE8 betas since BETA1 was realeased all those months ago and i have to admit the RC1 is actually quite good, the progress in the browser since the first beta was releases is very good. When i quickly browsed the net and viewed my sites in B1 they were all over the place, broken css and javascript errors glaor. Now with RC1 freshly installed the majority of sites seem work fine without having to resort to the awkward compliants mode ( switch back to IE7 mode ) they have bolted on for all the lazy designers/programmers who built IE only versions fo websites. I am acually quite excited about the release of Internet Explorer 8 as it marks the start of a new generation of websites that are standards compliant from the go, without horrid IE hacks that a lot of sites seem to use.

Again the hopefully imminent release of Firefox 3.1 as got me excited, not only do we finally get the P0RN mode we have been waiting for we also start to get some CSS3 functionality we can use, most notably the use of web fonts, no more can will we be stuck with the handful of web fonts we have used for so long but with the quick upload of a public font we will be away with great typography and great looking websites.

There are a host of new features coming in FF3.1 and im not going to go through them all but i still think its the best browser you could possible choose to use but here are links to both so you can choose

• Download Mozilla Firefox 3.1
• Download Internet Explorer 8