February 25th, 2009
Has Internet Explorer 8 been released? No.
The validity of stories can never be 100% unless you get the word directly from the horses mouth. In such a case of the release to manufacturing of Internet Explorer 8, the next generation browser from Microsoft, I’m not so sure it has been released.
If it has been released, why hasn’t Microsoft said so? Normally they announce things the minute the final build has rolled off the metaphorical tongue of the servers.
With Windows 7 still in the process of development and marketing campaigns, surely the IE8 release for XP, Vista and Windows Server will be older than the one in the final released Windows 7?
The EU have spat the dummy out in regards to the antitrust issues with Internet Explorer, so surely this will screw things up in both releases.
The recent release candidate version of the software doesn’t work on Windows 7, making me think a special semi-integrated version will be rolled out for the next version of Windows. If this is the case, you can hardly call any build at the moment which is incompatible with Windows 7 as a “final” product.
The announcement of a new reliability update for Windows 7’s in-built version of IE8 also caught my attention. If they’re still releasing updates for a finished product, the product isn’t finished. The time stamp on this post on the IEBlog suggests updates are still being rolled out for the beta product, and that the final release will probably still be on course for next month.
Maybe I’m rambling, either way - just a thought.
Zack Whittaker, the youngest in the ZDNet network, is a British student at the University of Kent, Canterbury, where he studies BA (Hons) Criminology and Social Policy. His insight into the next-generation is unique and first-hand, sharing his knowledge of the here and now but more so what's next and how to get there.
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