The much awaited browser by Microsoft — Internet Explorer 8 is atlast available for download. This is beta 1 release and I really can't thank Microsoft for making the download available for public instead of just making it available for Microsoft Connect users only. There are new exciting features, of course, but the look resembles to that of Internet Explorer 7. I know this is too early too say this, but again, it looks more like a major IE 7 update than a whole new browser itself. The thing to remember is that it is still the beta.
Below is a list of new features in IE 8.
Activities
Activities are contextual services to quickly access a service from any webpage. Users can just copy and paste from one webpage to another. Internet Explorer 8 Activities make this common pattern much more easier to do.
Web Slices
WebSlices is a new feature for websites to connect to their users, which lets you subscribe to content directly within a webpage. WebSlices behave just like feeds where clients can subscribe to get updates and get notified of the changes.
Favorites Bar
In Internet Explorer 7, the Links bar provided one-click access to favorite sites. The Links bar has undergone a complete makeover for Internet Explorer 8. It has been renamed to Favorites bar to associate this bar as a place to put and easily access all the favorite web content, like links, feeds, WebSlices and even Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
Automatic Crash Recovery
Automatic Crash Recovery (ACR) is a feature of Windows Internet Explorer 8 that can help prevent the loss of work and productivity in the unlikely event of the browser crashing or hanging. The ACR feature takes advantage of the Loosely-Coupled Internet Explorer feature to provide new crash recovery capabilities, such as tab recovery, which will minimize interruptions to users’ browsing sessions.
Improved Phishing Filter
Internet Explorer 7 introduced the Phishing Filter, a feature which warn users when they visit a Phishing site. Phishing sites spoof a trusted legitimate site, with the goal of stealing the user’s personal or financial information. For Internet Explorer 8, they are building the success of the Phishing Filter with a more comprehensive feature called the “Safety Filter”
Download and Install Internet Explorer 8
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Vista
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Vista x64 Edition
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Window XP SP2
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Server 2003 SP2
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Server 2003 SP2 x64 Edition and Windows XP SP2 Pro x64 Edition
