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I wish they copied more nice features from Opera, say how about instant image rendering or plugin on/off switch? One click and no plugins, no flash, no crap images/ads/animations. Yeah Paul, that's right, all of us seven Opera fans demand that! It's time to start your photocopiers again Redmond! :P

"Internet Explorer"? Didn't that used to be some kind of web browser?

I think I remember hearing about it back in the 90's.  

:-)

Hm, I'm sure it will include lots of technologies Microsoft needs us to have. WW I had its WW II .. 'Guess Browser Wars I will have its Browser Wars II. Same side won, BTW.

@lotsamystuff

Yeah, back when Netscape became Mozilla.

@lotsamystuff - ""Internet Explorer"? Didn't that used to be some kind of web browser?"

Yeah, its still the most widely used one on the internet, I believe. What's your point?

--tayme

"I think I remember hearing about it back in the 90's."

Ya, back in 1997.  You know:

www.youtube.com/watch

So far, I haven't seen a need for a browser other than IE-8 on my Dell. I suspect that I will sometime, but not having Firefox here now saves lots of updates.

I'd still like to be able to split a tab into a new IE instance.  Now that they're all separate processes anyway, how hard would this be to do?

I also like how they call IE an "FTP Client" which is pretty laughable when you compare it to programs like FileZilla. If they're going to call it that, either give it decent features that a true FTP client needs, or get out of calling it that.

Internet Explorer is dead. Chrome and Safari are the future. More specifically, WebKit. Also on mobile platforms.

"Chrome and Safari are the future. More specifically, WebKit. Also on mobile platforms."

No they aren't:

www.eweek.com/.../Apple-Google-Boards-May-Be-FTC-Targets-805822

"Chrome and Safari are the future"

I wouldn't count out Firefox. I recently spent a month using nothing but Chrome, Safari and IE8. I thought they were all very good, but then I installed FireFox 3.5b4 and it felt like I was back home again. All the browsers have very comparable performance but Firefox has the most functional/usable UI I think - not to mention the myriad of ways that it can be extended and configured.

Not much in the way of "news" (I think) but great to hear thr IE team is starting to think about the next version of IE.

I like IE8 but I'm keeping an eye on Chrome. Right now, at least for me, IE just needs out of the box features available in other browsers: spellchecker, download manager, being able to brake off and reattach tabs (as in Chrome) and being able to open searches in new tabs (as in Firefox) (and how it's down with the "'Smart' Address Bar" in IE8).

A lot of these features are available in IE7Pro but it appears development with that addon has ended.

techfan, are you aware that is you use IE7 or 8's search box, and hit Alt-Enter, that the search results open in a new tab?

It also works in the adress bar, type in an address, hit Alt-Enter and it opens that address in a new tab

Not the most discoverable thing, but it works.

Anyway, it's good to see that they're already gearing up for the next version of IE, plus, as someone pointed out on another post, they're really getting the ball rolling again.

It seems like they've lain dormant for an eternity, but they're actually fighting back at last!

This can only be a good thing for the entire industry - healthy competition frequently drives innovation.

There is one component that I feel is a must for the next iteration of IE and that is "Shield" .... microsoft's own Shield which they have never done anything with, for what reason I do not know, but I think that if they used it that that would be the end of all their problems.

research.microsoft.com/.../shield.aspx

Can someone tell me why microsoft have not used it ???

@techfan:

IE7Pro was updated to support IE8 since version 2.2.

It is now 2.4.5, last updated Feb 4th of this year.

A lot of the functionality is in IE8 already, but if you want an ad blocker, it's a good choice.  (Sorry Paul!)

@kenmcnamee: You're right. My mistake. I would not discount Firefox either.

@waethorn: You wish. It will never happen. These companies are not Microsoft. Therefore not evil. Whereas MS is convicted. And hence evil.

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@gorath: Actually, no I didn't know about that. You can set IE8 to open searches (and URL entries) in new tabs with IE7Pro but some times I don't want that to happen, so I use the Ctrl+Down Arrow and then hit the first letter of the search engines I have in IE8. I'm going to disable the feature in IE7Pro and use the built-in search option in IE8.

Thanks.

I knew about the Alt-Enter keyboard shortcut, I also like Alt-Shift-Enter to open a new tab in the background.

@Waethorn: True. I have the most recent version of IE7Pro. I meant more though about full compatibility. Some of the features, such as mouse gestures, do not fully work with IE8. A lot of people, myself included, on the IE7Pro forums have been wondering about the latest development news on IEPro -- what the "IE7Pro" version for IE8 will/might be called but none of the dev team have replied.

I'm with ya on IE7Pro being a better ad blocker. I don't use it but I like that it's "on" when IE8 starts, unlike IE8's built-in ad blocker which requires manual enabling every time  the browser starts (though I think there's a registry hack to automatically enable it).

rj, even convicted criminals turn to the righteous path after a while, get MS another chance, man :)

I see absolutely no reason to switch off of IE 8. Safari is a joke thanks to Charlie Miller. The twice hacked in 2 years Apple browser proves Apple doesn't get it. 2 minutes in 2008 and less than 10 seconds in 2009. Thats a superior browser? Yeah, right. Until Apple learns how to write a browser that isn't so easily compromised, I'll stick with IE 8 Just count the number of Safari vulnerabilities for 2008 and then tell me its safer than the new IE 8.

Chrome needs to under go some growing pains before its ready for prime time. Its definitely a nice new entry, but I'm just not sold on it yet. However, I'm keeping an eye on it. As for Firefox, while its compelling there's really not enough of a difference between IE 8 and Firefox to really justify it. Firefox does some good things, but its not perfect. Neither is IE 8. Maybe if the next version gives us some real reasons to switch.

Wae, I really do like IE 7 pro. I'll be adding it to Windows 7 as soon as possible.

I am looking foward to some feedback to Microsoft for IE 9.

It's not IE9! It is in fact IE8.1.

There is one single feature I would like Microsoft to include in the next IE, whatever it will become. I would like a complete uninstall feature.

@Lab-Rat, lol!

@Darkmax

I don't think entirely removing the IE rendering engine would be a wise choice. I believe it is used to actually draw a lot of the windows GUI, as well as things like file previews for html files and such.

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I use Maxthon as IE shell for years now, and I like it. Used Netcaptor before it, than MyIE that was renamed to MAxthon later on.. So I've always been on IE, and last 10 years on IE+shell.

I like IE8 a lot but Maxthon isn't playing nice with it. You can't use IE8 features like accelerators or slices and so on. Stability isn't the best either anymore. And in Windows 7 it has additional problems (no snap-to-left/right, no maximize on top, no preview picture on alt+tab or in tray).

So I'm thinking to go to IE8 only. But I want a good custom pop-up and ad blocker; I want my favorites to be synced online so I can sync it between work and home; I want new window to ALWAYS open as new tab (IE often opens new instance instead, blah!), I want the ability to turn off ActiveX/images/sound on the fly (toolbar button) for every tab separately, and.. that's it. Not much at all. Rest is already pretty good in IE8. Oh, and not sure if IE8 already has this, but I really want an option to "Add all open tabs to new favourite group/folder"..

Paul, you should really start linking the source, unless you got this in mail or read it in the newspaper..

rj, Apple is also convicted.  So by your so-called "reasoning", they are also evil.

www.neowin.net/.../apple-found-guilty-of-patent-infringement

IE is a pretty good browser. I like the concept of webslices and accelerators. I use a couple of them too. I like Chrome and Firefox too. Don't know about OS X, but Safari is a joke on Windows. If that really is the future, the future looks bleak.

So, the WIndows 7 RC is running fine in VMWare and my first action was to download Firefox-----in order to get adblock plus.

If there is something analogous for IE 8/9, I might be interested, otherwise, no.

For both Safari and Firefox, a lot of my interest is the add ons that make the browsing experience so much better. (Pith Helmet and click-to-flash are how I spell relief in a world of increasingly cluttered, annoying web pages.)

BTW, WIn7 is not bad, much better than XP, and at least as fast in VMWare.

chuckb84 - I've just found one and trying it right now, Adblock Pro. Seems to work so far, though been testing it for just 20 minutes.

I don't have huge requirements from a browser, and so far, with this Adblock Pro thingie, I lack only a few. One is the online-sync but I can live without it, some are just usability preferences (like me getting used to Ctrl+T being new tab and not Ctrl+N, and that I have to shift+ctrl+click instead of just shift+click to open link in a new tab).

Some just have to be discovered in IE settings, which i was lazy to do untill now.

But there are still some annoyances, most notably related to new tabs. When I make a search I want it to open in new tab - but IE8 doesn't do that. Or when I right click link+open in new tab it is opened in background (which I want), but if I ctrl+shift+click than it's opened in foregraound (which I hate, as I want to click serveral links to open 10-15 links in 10-15 new tabs so I can read later on).

If anyone knows solution, please tell me!

And last one is that "undo closed tabs"/"reopen closed tabs" history is lost once you close that IE8 session. I don't want that! I want my "tab history" so to say to be remembered.. cos sometimes I just want to close browser, as I have to go out in a hurry, but want to undo-close tham later on and so on..

If somoene knows any of these things - please tell me! you can also mail me at pribanic (dot) luka (at) gmail

@chucky:

IE7Pro works on IE8 and includes an ad blocker.

@Lux:

In IE8, the keys go like this:

Ctrl+link = open in new background tab

Ctrl+Shift+link = open in new foreground tab

Shift+link = open in new foreground window

Also, if you want to open your previous stuff after closing IE8, do this:

1)  Open a new tab

2)  Click on "Reopen Last Browsing Session"

OR you can find that option in the Tools menu.

FYI:  All tabs from you previous session are opened in new tabs, so your home/primary tab stays put.

@LuxZg: In addition to Waethorn's tips, if you install IE7Pro, you'll have a tab history

independent of IE8. If you close IE8 and lose your tab

history (that happens to me too, especially when I just want to reopen a single closed tab), the tab history in IE7Pro stays put.

IE7Pro has a nice feature where you can click and drag a link and it'll open in a new tab in the background.

IE7Pro isn't fully compatible with IE8 (yet) but most of the features work. (I only have problems with mouse gestures and IE7Pro periodically not launching when new tabs are opened.)

@LuxZg

ignoring what Wae said, if you simply want to open links in a new tab, in the background, use your middle mouse button, or on a laptop with a touch-pad, click using both buttons at once (this simulates a middle-button-click in almost any app)

glad to be of service :)

One of the things I really really like about IE, is that I can tell it to suffix any adress I type with .co.uk instead of .com

then, if I want to visit a specific UK page, I can do so by typing in the domain name, then hitting shift-ctrl-enter to complete it.

for example,

google + [ctrl-enter] = http://www.google.com

google + [shift-ctrl-enter] = http://www.google.co.uk

Of course, I could have it suffix the adress with anything I want.

However, in all other browsers I've tried, the shift-ctrl-enter simply finishes the address with .org, which I almost never use - and this is, as far as I can tell, hard-coded.

Still, if anybody knows how to change the behavious of this in Chrome of Firefox, I'd be thankful if you would share it.

BTW, here's a Windows 7-only feature of IE8

blogs.msdn.com/.../ie8-in-windows-7-rc-reliability-and-telemetry.aspx

I saw this post a few days ago but it was just picked up by Lifehacker. I love how that site is making it sound as if IE8 copied tab isolation from Chrome(!), when it's the other way around.

LuxZg, I don't need to "start" linking to sources, I always do when it's possible. In this case, the URL woudn't resolve since you can't access the address. It was sent to me via email.

@gorath: why did you lol at me? It is true

www.smashingmagazine.com/.../breaking-internet-explorer-81-eagle-eyes-leaked

ok, my bad, i thought it was real, didn't hit me until now but it was posted the day before april fools (was the 1st in the timezone of the poster). I just wanted to beleive it that I ignored the facts.

The first pic is a fake.

The 8.1 was cut and paste, which is shown when the image is processed with a simple emboss filter.  There are noticeable differences in the JPEG compression blocks surrounding those numbers.  As well, the version numbering is fake (the font is completely different in the version number which is very obvious).

The third pic shows the Add-on's menu option which only replaces the Pop-up Blocker option.

The writeup is a snarky April Fool's Day joke I'm afraid.

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