IE8 released....

[Duncan Rounding]

The time has come, like it or not...
http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2009/mar09/03-18IE8AvailablePR.mspx

[Mark H]

I downloaded IE8 from the link on Microsoft's IE8 page, but it refused to instal as it "has detected a more recent version of IE installed on your PC" :D

[bamboo]

Be afraid (http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/19/the-pwn2own-trifecta-safari-ie-8-and-firefox-exploited-on-day/), very afraid :)

[Chunkford]

Be afraid (http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/19/the-pwn2own-trifecta-safari-ie-8-and-firefox-exploited-on-day/), very afraid :)

That makes me think i should take up a different hobby :D

[Darren B]

im guessing the live version is the same as rc1 which fixed a load of issues but astil have some rendering ones, i will probably try it later and see

[Steve G Griggs]

With its own bugs in it's rendering of CSS no doubt. (Sorry not bugs, we must call them "features"). Why is it if the likes of Mozilla can get their CSS rendering right, Microsoft seem either to be uninterested or incapable of doing so?
Why am I not surprised that someone has already hacked both IE8 and Windows 7? I expect there are the usual plethora of gaping security loopholes waiting to be used by script kiddies to hack IE8's security to shreds.

[leehack]

The problem is as IE gets closer to correct rendering, it means we need to serve up different sheets for each version, so it actually causes more problems lol. If every browser rendered crap, it would be fine, we could just choose a browser on its features alone then. I've been on IE8 for a month or so now and i'd have to say i'm not seeing much if any difference to so called compliant browsers, they are very close now IMO.

[grantglendinnin]

Finally downloaded IE8 RC1 to see how it renders life. It fails. Though I was slightly more impressed with the speed of the browser in comparison to IE7. I'll definitely be sticking with Firefox and Opera though.

[Steve G Griggs]

Firefox wins for me. I only use IE for testing, or if I really must for some obscure reason now.
I suppose I will have to install it and use it for testing my web pages now..:(

[Darren B]

FF pah - i used to love it, these days it crashes regulary, consumes insane resources when it feels like it, and has a big problem with flash, if it does not display properly then intalling new versions or reinstalling wont fix it. You have to delete the browser and all user profiles, clean the registry then start again

Seamonkey :p

[leehack]

FF is pretty poor (white reply) or utter crap (blue reply) IMO, so damn slow to start, if it weren't for Firebug, it'd have joined my recycle bin a long time ago. My favourite looking browser is Safari, download that and have a look at your site on there, it makes most things look very nice IMO, i'd say it's like having 3 pints without needing to go the loo.

[Duncan Rounding]

I also downloaded the latest Safari the other day and I put it on a par with the latest Chrome. That said I still use FF as my default browser purley for Firebug as Lee.

[Duncan Rounding]

Well so much for IE8. Loaded it in a VPC and it crash dumps on lots of site pages. It also restarts the tab for the sitemap pages that I tried. I can see this is going to be a nightmare. I hope it's only related to the VPC or my setup, but I doubt that.

Anybody else having similar issues in a VPC (or directly for that matter)?

[guccij]

I can't even download the wretched offering. I did have the RC1 installed, then got rid of it after checking website fine cos no point when I use FF and Chrome (latest release is blitzschnell). So today when I come to reinstall IE8, I never get to the download page. Disabled firewall etc etc etc. Nothing. Microsoft's loss = my gain.

[gabrielcrowe]

wget+vi ftw.

[gabrielcrowe]

personally i'm horrified that ie8 still exists.

though they have made some acheivements in recent times, its still always playing technological catch up, with the open source and the browsers with much tighter development cycles (read: opera)

the sad fact is that this new release of ie8 will create additional work for every serious designer, and coder. especially in the realm of javascript and css compatibility. as sir breakaloy mentions, the extra conditionals required are getting silly.

i now need 3 sets of conditionals for some 'hacks'? wtf?

MS should drop trident and move to webkit, then we can all be friends.

in the meantime, i'm going to ignore ie8 and hope that it fixes itself.