Article by George Norman

On 19 Jun 2009

Remember when IE8 RTW (Internet Explorer 8 Release to Web) was only a few days away and Microsoft whipped out the test results of an internally conducted test which stated that 48% of the time IE8 loads the 25 most popular sites in the world faster than Chrome and Firefox? If you don’t check out this article; if you do, then you are going to love what the Redmond-based software developer has done recently. Microsoft has published a browser comparison chart on the Windows Internet Explorer: Get the Facts site and according it IE8 simply blows the competition away.

According to Microsoft’s comparison chart, IE8 has all it needs: security, privacy, ease of use, developer tools, reliability, compatibility, and manageability. It has other things as well, such as performance, customizability, and web standards, but as Microsoft sees it, Firefox and Chrome have none of the features from the first enumeration. Just check out the comparison chart image at the bottom of the article if you have a hard time believing this – or view it directly from Microsoft here.


Now I don’t want to make any nasty comments about Microsoft and Internet Explorer 8, especially since I encouraged you to download IE8 as part of the Browser for the Better campaign and help feed the starving, so I am going to let DownloadSquad’s Lee Mathews do the commenting: “Yes, we know that Internet Explorer 8 isn't the same steaming pile of dung that past versions have been. Yes, we know it has some neat features like accelerators and InPrivate filtering. But we really had no idea that you had such a great sense of humor!”

As an avid Firefox user, I would rather not get my blood pressure too high up today, the day that Firefox 3.5 RC1 is supposed to be rolled out. Consequently let’s move on to the “related IE8 news” part of the title. And the related IE9 news are:
- In Australia, Microsoft is running a promotional campaign entitled “Ten Grand is Buried Here.” The goal of this contest is to use IE8 and find the 10,000 Australian dollars that are hidden somewhere on the internet. Additional details on the competition available here.
- For Europe, Microsoft has decided that it will not bundle the Windows 7 OS with IE8. What it will do instead is offer a Windows 7 Internet Pack to customers that purchase the full packaged product. The Windows 7 Internet Pack will come with IE8 and Windows Live Essentials and will be either given away for free pr charge a nominal fee.

UPDATE: All browser users can now participate in the “Ten Grand is Buried Here” competition.







Tags: Microsoft, Internet Explorer 8, IE 8, Browser comparison

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