IE8 ~ approx. mid 2009 | The Coffeehouse

stun

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/11/19/ie8-what-s-after-beta-2.aspx

Looks like IE8 Release Candidate will be coming in Q1 2009 and final release after that.

For me, IE feels slow and bloated and unresponsive since IE7 in terms of UI.
Try opening a new tab, try switching tabs, scrolling lagging problems....etc.

I will say this again. I do NOT have any 3rd party ActiveX extensions installed.

I don't care about Acid 3 test, but I do care about Acid 2 test which IE8 already passes.
However IMO, IE8 needs to be more lightweight and faster to compete in this new generation browser wars.

Apart from legacy Intranet applications, I see that IE's market share could be challenged much more.

I hope they make IE8 my favorite browser....fast, lightweight, and compliant.

Harlequin
http://twitter.com/TrueHarlequin

Well mid-2009 is a lot different than "after q1" Smiley

Microsoft Q1 starts December 1st, so I'd guess more than likely a February or March release.

Yggdrasil
Pour me a cab, 'cause I can't drink no more.

For me, IE7 sits midway between Chrome (super-fast, but unreliable, crashes and mishandles a lot of javascript) and Firefox (stable and lots of features and add-ons, but loads up slow and heavy). I would use Chrome more extensively, since I value quick startup times more than the plethora of add-ins, but it's not nearly reliable enough. IE is a good balance for me.

IE8b2 can replace it well, but it needs a lot of work on stablity and proper rendering bugs. I hope b3 or rc1, whichever is released, addresses those.