Microsoft Launching Test-Release of Full-Featured Internet Explorer 8
Posted on: Wednesday, 4 June 2008, 12:25 CDT
Microsoft Corp announced this week its plans to launch a test-release of a full- featured version of its Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8) Web browser.Planned for August, the test-release is the second such launch, following the company’s initial IE 8 test release in March of this year. That version provided Web designers and developers a preview of IE 8’s updated features. At that time, Redmond, WA- based Microsoft provided a glance at some of IE 8’s new features, including one called "Activities" that allows users to highlight text on a Web page and then take that passage into another Web service. For instance, a user can highlight an address and with a click of the mouse call up a map of that location.
The August release, IE 8 Beta 2, will be mainly targeted at more ordinary Web users, and will contain all the features the browser will have when it is officially released. Microsoft has not yet announced that date . The company released Internet Explorer 7 in October 2006.
As test-release version, IE 8 Beta 2 may contain some bugs, the company said.
After seeing its browser business challenged by Mozilla’s Firefox, Microsoft committed to deliver more regular updates of Internet Explorer. Mozilla released a test version of Firefox 3 last month, which promises more speed, stability and security. New features will also be included, such as a “smart” location bar that remembers and redirects Web surfers to sites they have previously visited.
According to filings released last October, Firefox, closely affiliated with Google Inc, accounted for 85 percent of the revenue of Firefox's parent organization, the Mozilla Foundation.
Shares of Microsoft were up 16 cents to $27.47 Wednesday in mid-day Nasdaq trade.
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Source: redOrbit Staff and Wire Reports
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