Microsoft releases IE8 Beta 2

Category: Internet Technology

August 28th 08, 10:26

Those involved in website development may be interested to read that Microsoft has released the second beta of the next version of Internet Explorer (IE).

IE 8 Beta 2 is now available for the 32 and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 in a number of languages.

Announcing the release on the official IE blog, general manager Dean Hachamovitch explained that while Beta 1 was primarily aimed at web developers, Beta 2 can be tried by both professionals and consumers.

Among the features of the new browser are a private web browsing mode known as InPrivate, a smart address bar similar to that seen in the newest version of Firefox, improved security, enhanced tabbed browsing and a visual search facility.

"We looked very hard at how people really browse the web. We looked at a lot of data about how people browse and tried a lot of different designs in front of many kinds of people, not just technologists," Mr Hachamovitch explained.

Meanwhile, Mozilla Labs has this week announced the development of a new Firefox tool, Ubiquity, that allows web users to create mashups without needing web development knowledge.

This news story was brought to you by Bluhalo, a leading UK digital agency.

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