Comments on: Microsoft set to unleash Internet Explorer 8

The software maker says the new version of the browser will be available for download beginning at 9 a.m. PDT on Thursday.

[fooldog01]

I dont know what the big deal is. If you dont like it just use another browser. I interchangably use IE8, FF and Chrome. I dont like one any more than the other. I need IE for some stuff, I use Chrome when I know where I am headed and I use FF for just browsing. Surely theres something out there for everyone.

[Tergon]

I agree. I tend to do the majority of my browsing in ie. I have no problems with it most of the time, no more than anyother software. I keep on hand a copy each of Firefox and Opera (both running portably from my flash drive), Chorme's a little too advert friendly and big brothery for me but hey each to their own. those who've commented that everyone who uses ie is just uninformed are woahfully misleading themselves and are stuck back in the late 90's when other browsers didn't have the exposure. Many people use IE because they don't care, about the diferences and some (like me) use it because rarely if ever notice a site that doesn't work with it (at leaset in ie8 compatiblity mode LOL) and run into many that don't play well with the others (like Sonicwall Router's inbulit website).
Firefox is wonderful for the add-ons, Opera is usefull when I testing websites, IE is fine for everyday browsing (and the new accelorators are quite useful actually (I use the various Translate ones all the time))

[efreak1]

Awesome!

[roxykat73]

Anyone else notice that automatic cookie deletion is turned on by default? What does this mean for advertisers, web analytics solutions, etc.?

[rjw_mpwr]

i don't know what is all these ms bashing all about. i use IE and FF. I think they are about the same. You say FF is faster? I cannot tell the difference. Both crash. I don't think one is any better than the other.

just my .02.
jw

[ChrisLang]

Ina, as always you are the best blogger on Cnet. Too bad due to the justice departments suit against Microsoft I can't use IE8 because I am a W2K user and unwilling to use Vista or XP.

In fact I run a browser OS, all I use W2K for is to boot the machine.

Keep up the great articles, you are one of the best bloggers I follow.

Chris Lang
http://googlingsocial.com

[HlLLARY CLITON]

wow I was expecting something more, how long has MS been working on this???

[iona60]

I downloaded and installed IE8. I went to the Addon sight and tried to add several add on programs and got a message saying I needed IE8 to install the Addon. Another great product from Microsoft.... What Junk and lets hope Windows 7 is better....

[Canter11]

I remember back years ago, when I got irritated by some of the things I couldn't do in IE and started looking for other browsers, and found several that were better. Back then they ALL were better. Unless forced to, I've not used IE at all, until now.

Talking to people a while back who used IE 7 I got that it had much improved, tried it, and found yes, it was a far better product. Firefox was still better, but IE was only slightly irritating, I decided. So, when IE 8 came out, I heard good things and decided to give it a shot.

To my surprise, it was indeed better than Firefox in some ways, and at first I thought there was little down side and all good. Yes, some sites loaded slower, but some loaded faster too, and overall sites just looked a bit more polished. Testing my internet connection for other reasons I found that Firefox added a 5ms delay to the test as well (speedtest .net, Lewisville to Dallas server); not significant in and of itself, but one thing I've learned from playing World of Warcraft is that small things can add up to some thing big, so go with better even if it seems like it won't help much. I started using IE 8 over Firefox!

Until yesterday. I needed an RMA and you can get a UPS label from newegg, which I did. When I went to print it out, I COULDN'T DO IT IN IE 8!!! I couldn't change any settings to make it happen, either. Then I remembered what I had forgotten - one of the reasons I'd stopped using IE a decade ago was that it would only print parts of some web pages.

Microsoft, it is this very kind of thing that angers people at your products; if there is a reason why IE can't print a page, especially one every other browser under the sun can print, IE should say so, and an option should be available to change it. It's the little irritations that people notice (and this is a BIG one imo), not the bells and whistles that have been added to IE 8. Kudos to you for stepping in closer to internet protocol adherence, but I give you the one-finger rating for the fact that I can't print out a UPS label in IE 8 using Vista 64, I have to go to an aftermarket browser to do so.

Firefox 3 has had it's problems, as well; it is buggy - and I'm a user that rarely has problems when other people claim to with a piece of software. It stopped letting me bookmark on one computer and nothing I did, according to their instructions, helped (not even a reinstall). That was a 1-time thing though and hasn't been an issue except on that 1 hard drive. IE 8 is better, faster, has more bells and whistles without bogging things down than IE 7 (at least in my high-end system), but it is still broken in the way I use it.

Please fix this Microsoft; it's the very kind of thing that gripes people about software in general and yours in particular.