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Author Topic: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2  (Read 16381 times)

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Broni

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Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
« on: August 28, 2008, 07:06:25 PM »
Adds smart bar and boosts search detail; final ship date not yet set

HERE

With several days to spare before its self-imposed deadline, Microsoft Corp. today launched the second beta version of its upcoming Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) browser but would not commit to a ship date for the final version.

In early June, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, then still a full-time employee of the company, promised that it would post IE8 Beta 2 before the end of August.

Today's preview includes several new features introduced since March's Beta 1 debut, but only two of them haven't been openly discussed already, said James Pratt, a senior product manager in the IE development team.

 "About 80% of the time, when people are on the Web, they're browsing to sites they've visited before," said Pratt, pointing to what Microsoft has dubbed IE8's "smart address bar."

Much like the revamped location bar that Mozilla Corp. added to Firefox 3.0 -- which it calls the "Awesome Bar" -- IE8's address field now can be used to search for previously-visited sites by typing in words or phrases.

Unlike Firefox's tools, however, IE8's doesn't rely on an integrated database to store and then retrieve those URLs. Instead, said Pratt, Microsoft relies on its Windows Desktop search application, which is bundled with Windows Vista but is a separate download and installation for Windows XP users.

Last month, Microsoft warned users that it would soon begin pushing out an automatic update of Windows Desktop 4.0 to Vista users. People running XP, however, would see it only as an optional update.

Windows Desktop must be present in order to use the new smart address-bar functionality, Pratt acknowledged. "They're dependent, yes," he said.

The other feature he stressed in Beta 2 -- search suggestions -- has also been held until today, Pratt said. "We've introduced a way to search more quickly," he said, pointing to search bar, which now that lets search-engine and Web site developers add more functionality to searches. Pratt demonstrated a search using Amazon.com Inc.'s engine in IE8 Beta 2 that provided not only item results from the online store, but also artwork, such as album-cover art for CDs, as well as prices.

Rather than offering developers a new application programming interface (API) for IE8 to take advantage of the new search-bar skills, Microsoft will offer the tools via extensions to the open-source OpenSearch standard.

Microsoft has talked up other IE8 Beta 2 additions and enhancements in recent weeks, including several advanced privacy tools, which some have tagged as "porn mode" in a nod to the most obvious use of a private browsing session.

Last month, Microsoft also spilled the beans about new security measures it would introduce in IE8 Beta 2, including antimalware protection and a filter it said would block the most common cross-site scripting attacks.

Pratt refused to name a release date for IE8, or even discuss a time frame that Microsoft is shooting for. The most specific he would get was to say the new browser would ship "sometime before the next release of Windows." Windows 7, the name of Vista's successor, will launch in late 2009 or early 2010, Microsoft executives have promised.

Although other company managers have been quoted as saying that the final version of IE8 will launch this year, Pratt declined to confirm that, saying at one point those reports were just "speculation when we might launch." Later in the interview, he said that 2008 "would fit within that [before the next release of Windows] time frame."

Unlike the first beta, today's release is aimed at a bigger audience. Beta 1 had carried the tag "Developer Label," something that Microsoft wants to avoid this time around. "Beta 2 is suitable for all users," said Pratt, who encouraged both consumers and business users to download and try the browser. "In that respect, it's a much broader beta."

IE8 Beta 2 can be downloaded from its own page or from Microsoft's Download Center.

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Re: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2008, 08:06:02 PM »
Anyone here try this latest beta yet?
Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.
-Albert Einstein

Broni

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Re: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
« Reply #2 on: August 28, 2008, 08:16:05 PM »
I just installed it on my test XP. Too early to say anything.
One thing, I didn't like already...
During installation, my Online Armor firewall warned me, that IE install is trying to change my home page. I disallowed change, and IE wouldn't install (installed with error). I had to reinstall, allowing the change, this time.
...and it's forcing all kind of M$ options during install (search engine, Windows Live, etc.)

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Re: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
« Reply #3 on: August 28, 2008, 08:17:27 PM »
Hmm yeah that doesn't sound promising. Seems like though there are quite a bit of promising reviews about it, especially in comparison to the previous beta.
Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.
-Albert Einstein

Broni

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Re: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2008, 08:20:12 PM »
I'll try to use it over the weekend, and see how it goes...

drmsucks



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    Re: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
    « Reply #5 on: August 28, 2008, 11:12:12 PM »
    If you don't have time to do it right
                    ...when will you have time to do it over?

    Carbon Dudeoxide

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    Re: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
    « Reply #6 on: August 29, 2008, 04:33:13 AM »
    I'll try to use it over the weekend, and see how it goes...

    You had me going there for a minute, Broni. :D

    Broni

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    Re: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
    « Reply #7 on: August 29, 2008, 07:13:30 PM »
    Not on my main computer, nor as a default browser, though...LOL

    Broni

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    Re: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
    « Reply #8 on: August 29, 2008, 07:57:59 PM »
    Not too good news for me...

    http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39103/128/

    IE8 Beta 2 has a surprise for Windows XP SP3 users

    Opinion – Ok, I get it: Beta software isn’t software that should be run on computers you rely on every day. Betas are merely previews of products we can use to get a glimpse of the future and should be treated with care as bugs and hiccups are almost certainly part of the deal. Microsoft’s latest IE8 Beta surely has bugs as well, but there is one surprise that is a bit beyond my comfort level: Some users may actually not be able to uninstall this beta anymore.

    Microsoft and beta software is a story all by itself. In fact, Microsoft treats beta software very differently than most software companies do. While betas are typically developer-only packages elsewhere, Microsoft betas are a fixed and important part of the software release and marketing process that began with Windows 95 and IE4: Microsoft gave away thousands of Windows 95 Betas in prize drawings back in 1994 and the actual IE4 launch was initiated with the IE4 beta – I still have my beta T-shirt given out at a launch party back then.

    IE8 continues that tradition. It is only the second beta, but Microsoft’s IE8 pages treat the software like a final release. Yes, it is still called beta, but Microsoft has set up a fully-fledged product page with videos and flashy product demonstrations. Microsoft tells visitors on its site to “Get Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, the latest version of Microsoft's free web browser.”The download buttons for the “latest browser” clearly point to this beta 2, while “older versions” are mentioned at the very bottom of the page. There is not a single warning that this software may have bugs and should be treated carefully. If you are new to this game, you surely have the impression that this is a version close to the final (it actually is) and that this is the IE you should download.

    With that in mind, especially one bug that was pointed out this morning by Gregg Keizer at Computerworld, is a bit strong in my mind.

    Users of Windows XP SP3 who simply install IE8 Beta 2 may actually find the browser being locked into their system without any chance to remove the browser without a full reinstallation of the operation system. According to a Microsoft IEBlog post, this scenario will be in place if you installed Windows XP SP3 after installing IE8 Beta 1 and you now choose to install IE8 Beta 2 on top of Beta 1 - and ignore a window with a warning. Microsoft said that you will be able to install Internet Explorer 8 Beta2, but once installed, you will not be able to uninstall either IE8 or Windows XP SP3 later.

    “If you chose to continue, Windows XP SP3 and IE8 Beta2 will become permanent. You will still be able to upgrade to later IE8 builds as they become available, but you won’t be able to uninstall them,” program manager Jane Maliouta wrote in her blog post.

    So, if you are using XP SP3 you may want to follow Maliouta’s advice. But I believe it wouldn’t hurt either if Microsoft published such issues on its IE8 product page and not just in a blog, which not everyone will read. In the end, it is a beta and it should be treated this way - by users and Microsoft. 

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    Re: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
    « Reply #9 on: August 29, 2008, 09:28:52 PM »
    Ouch that's kind of surprising that this would appear in phase 2 of beta. Unless... was 1 released before SP3?
    Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.
    -Albert Einstein

    Broni

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    Re: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
    « Reply #10 on: August 29, 2008, 09:42:01 PM »
    Exactly.
    I installed beta 1 many months ago, before SP3.

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    Re: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
    « Reply #11 on: August 29, 2008, 09:47:56 PM »
    Quote
    Some users may actually not be able to uninstall this beta anymore.

    Quote
    If you chose to continue, Windows XP SP3 and IE8 Beta2 will become permanent. You will still be able to upgrade to later IE8 builds as they become available, but you won’t be able to uninstall them

    What. The. F###.

    That so pisses me off, when you install a beta version of a program to see what it would be like, only to find out you can't uninstall it. Just glad that I still haven't got it.

    I wonder why they don't let you uninstall it...

    Dias de verano

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    Re: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
    « Reply #12 on: August 30, 2008, 08:42:19 AM »
    I installed it, I quite like the eye candy, but I don't care if I have IE6 7 or 8 as I am a 99.999999% totally Firefox user. I have SP3, which I am not planning to uninstall. Sounds like some people need to do the magic spell which protects from the Curse Of Verano (it strikes if you don't - without fail - make a weekly Ghost image of your system partition).

    Broni

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    Re: Microsoft reveals IE8 Beta 2
    « Reply #14 on: August 30, 2008, 10:59:49 AM »
    I installed it today It wont open.

    theres probly a way to uninstall it if you look carefully.