Microsoft has put in place the preparations for Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 ready for Mix 08.
A full features page has been revealed which lists the following additions to Internet Explorer:
  • Activities
  • WebSlices
  • Favorites Bar
  • Automatic Crash Recovery
  • Improved Phishing Filter
Activities allow users to lookup/send information in a right-click contextual menu, such as retrieving an address map from Windows Live Maps, submitting a story to Digg, sharing a page on Facebook etc. WebSlices allows users to crop a specific area section of a site and bookmark it. Improvements have been made to the phishing filter which continues to block known Phishing sites and now blocks sites known to contain malicious software that could harm users’ computer or steal their information.

Perhaps one of the best new features is Automatic Crash Recovery which recovers your tabs if your browser crashes. It is widely expected that Microsoft will release the first beta of Internet Explorer 8 at this years Mix 08 which begins today.

Update: The download is now live and can be installed on Microsoft Windows Vista, XP, Server 2008/2003

View: Internet Explorer 8 New Features
Download: Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1


There are 198 additional comments
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(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #1 Posted by acedriver on 05 Mar 2008 - 11:08
the title should be "Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Features Revealed"
Quote this comment #1.1 Posted by Neobond on 05 Mar 2008 - 11:13
What?
Quote this comment #1.2 Posted by Unto Darkness on 05 Mar 2008 - 15:21
He probably meant that the emphasis should be on the 8.
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #2 Posted by prick on 05 Mar 2008 - 11:23
buggar it has the link to download but its not active yet, was hoping to try this out. Oh well! Thanks for the heads up anyway
Quote this comment #2.1 Posted by PatrynXX on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:53
Link's active, just 1. doesn't work on Opera. and 2. takes a few reloads to get it. Gonna install it shortly. IE 7 always sucked in Vista. Would be nice to see something better.

Shoot, I'm guessing it doesn't want Vista SP 1 installed. Refuses to install says wrong service pack configuration. Figures.
Quote this comment #2.2 Posted by PGHammer on 05 Mar 2008 - 19:35
If you have a version of SP1 *other* than the final, it won't install (I have the RTM SP1 installed, and IE 8b1 installed just fine). That could well be the issue.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #3 Posted by XerXis on 05 Mar 2008 - 11:33
i wonder if "webslices" uses the rss/atom format or some format of their own. I hope it's just another way of presenting feeds
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #4 Posted by gigapixels on 05 Mar 2008 - 11:35
I'm definitely running this as soon as it's available. Firefox is my main browser, so I can handle if there are any bugs with the beta. I'd like to see how the rendering and other things have improved.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #5 Posted by pippi123 on 05 Mar 2008 - 11:41
Whoa! Does this Webslice feature look great or what? I think I can close my Netvibes account when IE8 is out.
(3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #6 Posted by iSimx on 05 Mar 2008 - 11:42
the automatic crash recovery feature sounds great. I've had IE 7 crash on me so many times this feature will be useful
Quote this comment #6.1 Posted by ivanz on 06 Mar 2008 - 00:15
Yeah it does, I wonder when Firefox will have such a feature
Quote this comment #6.2 Posted by ViperAFK on 06 Mar 2008 - 01:25
Firefox 3 does have it.
Quote this comment #6.3 Posted by Kreuger on 08 Mar 2008 - 14:40
(ViperAFK said @ #6.2)
Firefox 3 does have it.


If your Firefox 2 crashes, it askes if you want to restore. Close enough.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #7 Posted by mrmckeb on 05 Mar 2008 - 11:57
Me want to download.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #8 Posted by Hidr0 on 05 Mar 2008 - 11:58
teaser!... wheres the link to d/l?
(4 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #9 Posted by The_Decryptor on 05 Mar 2008 - 12:01
Nice, MS is finally getting behind some open initiatives.

From what I can see Activities and WebSlices are both based around Microformats (and pre-existing ones as well)

That's excellent, IE team needs some praise.

Edit: Holy crap, data: URI support, CSS print rules support, Selector API support, this is great.
Quote this comment #9.1 Posted by GP007 on 05 Mar 2008 - 13:22
Yeah, this really looks great. But one question I have, can you run IE8 and IE7 side by side? I wanna try out the beta but my main browser is IE7 and if IE8 is buggy and so on I don't wanna lose the stability I have with IE7.
Quote this comment #9.2 Posted by Jugalator on 05 Mar 2008 - 13:23
(The_Decryptor said @ #9)
Edit: Holy crap, data: URI support, CSS print rules support, Selector API support, this is great.

And about damn time too.
Quote this comment #9.3 Posted by The_Decryptor on 05 Mar 2008 - 13:53
(GP007 said @ #9.1)
Yeah, this really looks great. But one question I have, can you run IE8 and IE7 side by side? I wanna try out the beta but my main browser is IE7 and if IE8 is buggy and so on I don't wanna lose the stability I have with IE7.

Nope, The newer version overwrite the older version.
Quote this comment #9.4 Posted by Tikitiki on 05 Mar 2008 - 23:07
(The_Decryptor said @ #9.3)
(GP007 said @ #9.1)
Yeah, this really looks great. But one question I have, can you run IE8 and IE7 side by side? I wanna try out the beta but my main browser is IE7 and if IE8 is buggy and so on I don't wanna lose the stability I have with IE7.

Nope, The newer version overwrite the older version.


It has a feature that allows you to emulate IE7
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #10 Posted by Kushan on 05 Mar 2008 - 12:15
Not really getting excited about these new "features", but then again I think the best thing to ever happen to browsing was the addition of Tabs.
Still, I'm really glad to hear about the better standards compliance, long overdue but very welcome none the less and I'd be upgrading to IE8 based on that reason alone.
Quote this comment #10.1 Posted by PGHammer on 05 Mar 2008 - 16:11
Tabs were added with IE 7. However, the trainload of new features (all of which are not only based on existing standards from outside Microsoft, but built into the browser, instead of relying on plug-ins or add-ons) is decidedly Not Good News for Firefox 3. Also, the fact that ACR extends down to the tab level is absolutely choice. Now, if the performance is *at least* as good as that of Firefox 3, then the ball is back in Mozilla's court (with heaps of topspin).
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #11 Posted by Avi on 05 Mar 2008 - 12:17
New features sound great... along w/ the new rendering engine (which supports web standards better)...
I think I'll use the Beta as well.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #12 Posted by Cryton on 05 Mar 2008 - 12:19
"Most notably, the Internet Explorer frame and its tabs are isolated into separate processes. In Internet Explorer 8, this isolation will allow improved performance and scalability, and richer ways to recover from failures (including crashes and hangs)."

Great stuff. IE8 sounds really exciting.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #13 Posted by +Island Dog on 05 Mar 2008 - 12:22
Note: It's not available for download yet.

(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #14 Posted by TRC on 05 Mar 2008 - 12:22
I just hope they allow the interface to be customized, or at least offer a classic IE interface. I always hated the one in IE7.
Quote this comment #14.1 Posted by eilegz on 05 Mar 2008 - 15:01
agree, i hate the interface of ie7 cant move the buttons, everything its so misplaced like the stop/reload button.
Quote this comment #14.2 Posted by Viktor78 on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:59
see Quero Toolbar
Note: the current version is not yet IE8 compatible
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #15 Posted by NegaC on 05 Mar 2008 - 12:25
I'm glad about the new placement of the favourites bar. Looks nice.
(5 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #16 Posted by pippi123 on 05 Mar 2008 - 12:34
After the FF2 debacle and the boring FF3, this will be the last nail in FFs coffin.
Quote this comment #16.1 Posted by El Sid on 05 Mar 2008 - 12:40
How can a web browser be boring? Yo do know that you're supposed to surf the internet with it right?
Quote this comment #16.2 Posted by TRC on 05 Mar 2008 - 12:42
What FF2 debacle? Why is FF3 boring? It's not even out yet; stop posting nonsense.
Quote this comment #16.3 Posted by +Dakkaroth on 05 Mar 2008 - 13:20
I agree with TRC. What the hell are you talking about?
Quote this comment #16.4 Posted by +Skwerl on 05 Mar 2008 - 15:55
Crap, I loved both Final Fantasy 2 and 3.
Quote this comment #16.5 Posted by rpgfan on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:41
(Skwerl said @ #16.4)
Crap, I loved both Final Fantasy 2 and 3.

That was hilarious! :rofl:

Fx = Firefox
FF != Firefox (it is Firefox, not FireFo

If you want more info on the official abbreviation, check out the pelling_Firefox" target="_blank">Talkpelling Firefox entry in the MozillaZine Knowledge Base or FAQ #8 in the FAQs section of the Mozilla Firefox 1.0.6 Release Notes.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #17 Posted by morphen on 05 Mar 2008 - 12:46
gah, activate downloads already
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #18 Posted by EduardValencia on 05 Mar 2008 - 13:11
What???!! i can't download the BETA,i can't Download!

Quote this comment #18.1 Posted by morphen on 05 Mar 2008 - 13:27
(EduardValencia said @ #1
What???!! i can't download the BETA,i can't Download!


huh?
Quote this comment #18.2 Posted by EduardValencia on 05 Mar 2008 - 13:43
means that links to download aren't available
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #19 Posted by Jugalator on 05 Mar 2008 - 13:31
What's the thing with the improved "Favorites Bar"?
It has been renamed the Favorites bar to enable users to associate this bar as a place to put and easily access all their favorite web content such as links, feeds, WebSlices and even Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.

I haven't used IE in a while, but couldn't you already use the Links Bar for everything but WebSlices (being a new feature) before? I think that at least in Firefox and Opera, RSS links just pops up a submenu with the latest feeds, and there's nothing stopping you from placing local files in there either (I just checked on IE 7 and it worked there too)?
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #20 Posted by gate1975mlm on 05 Mar 2008 - 13:40
I hope IE8 will allow you to resize the address bar.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #21 Posted by spacer on 05 Mar 2008 - 13:51
The new features are nice I guess, but IE8 still looks like crap.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #22 Posted by Angel Blue01 on 05 Mar 2008 - 13:52
The only thing I really want is the ability to customize the browser
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #23 Posted by Sevan on 05 Mar 2008 - 13:54
Nothing has changed at this stage, just some new features here and there. What would you expect for Beta 1.
Quote this comment #23.1 Posted by XerXis on 05 Mar 2008 - 13:58
(Sevan said @ #23)
Nothing has changed at this stage, just some new features here and there. What would you expect for Beta 1.


everything has changed, ie8 beta 1 passes the acid test
Quote this comment #23.2 Posted by statm1 on 05 Mar 2008 - 17:12
(XerXis said @ #23.1)
(Sevan said @ #23)
Nothing has changed at this stage, just some new features here and there. What would you expect for Beta 1.


everything has changed, ie8 beta 1 passes the acid test


Hes talking about the UI, Sevan.. Most things in the UI doesnt change in a Beta 1.
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #24 Posted by srwal on 05 Mar 2008 - 14:04
Any one have links?
Quote this comment #24.1 Posted by +TCLN Ryster on 05 Mar 2008 - 15:07
Did you not read the article? Specifically the download link?

It doesn't matter yet though, the download links on that page are not yet live.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #25 Posted by Admodieus on 05 Mar 2008 - 14:10
This sounds great. Can't wait to try it out.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #26 Posted by marius.fanu on 05 Mar 2008 - 14:17
will we get download links today? can't wait to give it a test drive
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #27 Posted by adrianarrakis on 05 Mar 2008 - 14:19
Does anyone knows if on install it will replace ie7 or it will be a separate install ?
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #28 Posted by marius.fanu on 05 Mar 2008 - 14:28
i think it will replace it beacause ie 7 replaced ie 6
(5 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #29 Posted by seebaran on 05 Mar 2008 - 14:53
So........no download manager, or a more space-efficient UI. More bells and whistles....... why why WHY? More fugly toolbars with more useless or redundant features.
Quote this comment #29.1 Posted by seta-san on 05 Mar 2008 - 14:58
this update vastly updates the standards compliance of the browser the W3C specs. This is a gigantic move in the right direction... BTW. a download manager, to me, is just more bells and whistles.
Quote this comment #29.2 Posted by +TCLN Ryster on 05 Mar 2008 - 15:07
(seta-san said @ #29.1)
this update vastly updates the standards compliance of the browser the W3C specs. This is a gigantic move in the right direction... BTW. a download manager, to me, is just more bells and whistles.

+1

If you want a download manager, go install IE8Pro when it's released.
Quote this comment #29.3 Posted by +Skwerl on 05 Mar 2008 - 15:58
(seebaran said @ #29)
So........no download manager, or a more space-efficient UI. More bells and whistles....... why why WHY? More fugly toolbars with more useless or redundant features.


Why more bells and whistles? That's what producing a new version of a product is all about. Any other bright questions?
Quote this comment #29.4 Posted by seebaran on 05 Mar 2008 - 16:52
Of course IE8 is more standard compliant. Good, wonderful.

A download manager, however, is not a bell/whistle. It's a useful tool to view download history and pause progress. It's not a content-driven or service-driven item, and it aids in finding files quickly I need to open. It's a reasonable request. Look how long it took to add a Print Preview function!

As an instructional designer, I know pushing a product with more clutter is counter-productive to whatever it is you're trying to get done on the web. Keep what's important and useful on the front-end and leave the rest as optional add-ons.
Quote this comment #29.5 Posted by d3v on 05 Mar 2008 - 17:43
(seebaran said @ #29.4)
As an instructional designer, I know pushing a product with more clutter is counter-productive to whatever it is you're trying to get done on the web. Keep what's important and useful on the front-end and leave the rest as optional add-ons.


A download manager is not important and not that useful for a great number of people.
On top of that it is a prime candidate for a plugin since it runs in its own window and needs little interaction with the host application.
(3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #30 Posted by Unto Darkness on 05 Mar 2008 - 15:17
Spell check would have been a nifty feature..

Maybe we can look forward to some add-ons for IE 8, just like Firefox [In the final release].
Quote this comment #30.1 Posted by Ayepecks on 05 Mar 2008 - 17:23
Agreed. Still no spell check MS? Come on now!
Quote this comment #30.2 Posted by GP007 on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:30
This is only beta 1 guys, they've got lots more to do still.
Quote this comment #30.3 Posted by eAi on 06 Mar 2008 - 03:38
Betas are meant to be 'feature complete'. Their purpose is to find bugs.
(3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #31 Posted by +Maximum Error on 05 Mar 2008 - 15:32
Both links are dead now... looks like they have got tired of the constant refreshing and hidden it away!
Quote this comment #31.1 Posted by Unto Darkness on 05 Mar 2008 - 15:37
Huh? They're still working fine. Only the downloads aren't up.

COME ON MICROSOFT!
Quote this comment #31.2 Posted by GP007 on 05 Mar 2008 - 16:02
MIX 08 hasen't started yet from the looks of it, so we have to wait until that starts. That's when the download links should work. It would be around uhh 8am PST?
Quote this comment #31.3 Posted by Unto Darkness on 05 Mar 2008 - 16:05
(GP007 said @ #31.2)
MIX 08 hasen't started yet from the looks of it, so we have to wait until that starts. That's when the download links should work. It would be around uhh 8am PST?


No, 9:30 AM. Dang, 1 hour 25 min and counting....
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #32 Posted by Magallanes on 05 Mar 2008 - 15:48
Every time that happens without a iexplorer8 beta 1 download link, a fanboy kill a kitten.

Please bill gates, think on kittens.


Quote this comment #32.1 Posted by Unto Darkness on 05 Mar 2008 - 15:52
Venting frustration on cute kitties is a bit too cruel don't you think?
Quote this comment #32.2 Posted by Magallanes on 05 Mar 2008 - 17:52
(Unto Darkness said @ #32.1)
Venting frustration on cute kitties is a bit too cruel don't you think?


Pretty much, anyways im still waiting to install it on my workstation and screw all the os. :-P

Quote this comment Reply to this comment #33 Posted by tsupersonic on 05 Mar 2008 - 15:52
OH What a letdown, I wish the download link worked
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #34 Posted by darkrats on 05 Mar 2008 - 16:18
Typical of MS marketing. Hey, let's post a dead link. That way, people will think we're actually doing something. Instead, they come away looking like a bunch of amateur dorks. They can't even be dependable in the small things. Look, if you don't have the product ready yet, then don't post a link. Wake up MS.
Quote this comment #34.1 Posted by Niels. on 05 Mar 2008 - 20:37
This is basically the same as Apple pulling their entire marketplace offline just to add a couple of updates. It's a marketing trick, create a buzz about something before it's actually there.
(3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #35 Posted by vetneufuse on 05 Mar 2008 - 16:24
Wonder when the download manager will be in? they said it will definatly be in IE8 back in the IE7 beta!....... I've tried the 3rd party ones and they are too much for all I want... I just want something like firefox has...
Quote this comment #35.1 Posted by seebaran on 05 Mar 2008 - 16:55
See? I'm not the only one who wants one.
Quote this comment #35.2 Posted by The_Decryptor on 05 Mar 2008 - 17:13
The builds of IE in the old Longhorn leaks had a download manager, got scrapped somewhere along the line.
Quote this comment #35.3 Posted by Munkyman on 05 Mar 2008 - 17:19
Why though? It makes so much sence to have one. It is something that should have been implemented a LONG time ago when I was on dial up cursing the heavens everytime a 300mb download canceled half way through
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #36 Posted by Shadrack on 05 Mar 2008 - 16:48
I stay clear of Internet Explorer beta's. Learned my lesson back when IE6 was in beta. I don't need IE bugs brining down my whole windows install.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #37 Posted by Netrack on 05 Mar 2008 - 17:02
you need sp1 installed...when do we get SP1 for vista?
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #38 Posted by ToastedJellyBowl on 05 Mar 2008 - 17:17
You don't need SP1. It works with both Windows Vista SP1, and standard Windows Vista.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #39 Posted by thexfile on 05 Mar 2008 - 17:38
Steve Ballmer needs needs a press conference to talk up IE8 and how Rogaine has changed his life.
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #40 Posted by darkpuma on 05 Mar 2008 - 17:50
i love IE, but going to version 8 seems a little excessive for such a small changelog... dosn't look like any radical changes. Is there something big to come?

i'm not overly impressed so far.
Quote this comment #40.1 Posted by EduardValencia on 05 Mar 2008 - 17:53
Apart from the new features mentioned in here,IE 8 passes de Acid 2 Test

So as you see,almost everything is new in this broswer ,incuulding some changes to the UI
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #41 Posted by chaicka on 05 Mar 2008 - 17:57
What a copycat...

Ain't some of those features actually originated from FireFox and its Extensions - eg. Adblock Plus,
Quote this comment #41.1 Posted by virtorio on 05 Mar 2008 - 20:52
So you'd rather they not include new features that have appeared in other products?

Then why not bitch about the fact Mozilla "copied" the address bar, navigation buttons, bookmark bar, customizable toolbar, search bar, tabbed bar and every other feature it's got from somewhere?
Quote this comment #41.2 Posted by Tikitiki on 05 Mar 2008 - 23:13
People these days. They just complain for the sake of complaining. I guess reading your posts before you post them is a thing of the past, no matter how stupid they are

p.s. I'm not talking about you virtorio
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #42 Posted by xcopmanx on 05 Mar 2008 - 17:58
Is this definitely coming out today or is this just a teaser because of the MIX '08 conference?
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #43 Posted by majortom1981 on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:08
So far its not abig omg but its a gerat thing for web developers nbecause things will ook the same as in firefox and ie8 . HE is showing this off now between firefox beta 3 safari and ie 8
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #44 Posted by XerXis on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:09
i must say, the mix ie8 demo impresses me! i only hope that toolbar can be made thinner
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #45 Posted by gate1975mlm on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:10
I wish Microsoft would add thumbnail previews for tabs in IE8!
Quote this comment #45.1 Posted by Doli on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:14
You dont like the "Quick tabs" thumbnail view in IE7? I think its better than Opera's thumbnail view.
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #46 Posted by Doli on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:11
nice debugger (looking at IE8 from Mix 08 live stream)
Quote this comment #46.1 Posted by XerXis on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:12
(Doli said @ #46)
nice debugger (looking at IE8 from Mix 08 live stream)
fantastic debugger! this is going to make life so much easier!
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #47 Posted by oqwarrior on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:20
Looks like the download should be available as soon as the keynote is complete.
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #48 Posted by Doli on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:20
available after keynote people.



Silverlight is shaping up to be something special now. I hope to see more of it soon and that now you can use it in Vista gadgets make it even better.
Quote this comment #48.1 Posted by HawkMan on 05 Mar 2008 - 23:06
hmm you could allways use it on gadgets, the XBL Friends list gadget has used it for a while now.

unless there's a 64 bit silverlight available now, since it didn't work on x64 because there was no Silverlight for x64
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #49 Posted by morphen on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:49
Downloads now active!
Quote this comment #49.1 Posted by Alien Venom on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:55
(morphen said @ #49)
Downloads now active!


They are intermittently working. I guess it takes time to propagate across the M$ servers. Until it's fully up, keep trying and you will be taken to the appropriate download page.

Some more links:

IE8 for Windows XP (SP2): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en

IE8 for Windows Server 2003 (SP2):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #50 Posted by franzon on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:51
IE8 beta1 javascript performances:
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #51 Posted by +Maximum Error on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:53
DOWNLOAD LIVE!!!!!
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #52 Posted by Nas on 05 Mar 2008 - 18:53
IE8B1 for Vista w