Microsoft: IE8 won't be finalised until 2009

21 Nov 2008 11:42

The company will do one more test version early next year before releasing the final version. Microsoft had earlier said to expect the browser to be finalised this year

Microsoft plans to offer one more public test version of Internet Explorer 8 before releasing the final version of the updated browser, the company said on Wednesday.

The next test, essentially a 'release candidate' version, will come in the first quarter of 2009. That means the final release won't hit Microsoft's initial goal of finishing the browser this year.

"Our next public release of IE (typically called a 'release candidate') indicates the end of the beta period," general manager Dean Hachamovitch said in a blog posting. "We want the technical community of people and organisations interested in web browsers to take this update as a strong signal that IE8 is effectively complete and done."

Microsoft first demonstrated the browser at the Mix conference in March. Among its improvements are malware protection, better standards support, and the ability to carve off a piece of a web page, known as a web slice. It also supports having private sessions that don't get logged in a browser's history.

The first beta version was released in March, with a second beta arriving over the summer.

Hachamovitch said website developers should test their sites and report "any critical issues" to Microsoft.

"We will be very selective about what changes we make between the next update and final release," he wrote. "We will act on the most critical issues. We will be super clear about product changes we make between the update and the final release."

Hachamovitch also called on technical users to download the current beta 2 version and let Microsoft know how that goes.

Story URL: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39559175,00.htm