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A person at leneros.com has posted some of the images saying that the images actually are that of Internet Explorer 8 Alpha.The forum is in Spanish language so it may be difficult for some to understand.Here is the translated version of what he writes-
Quote:
Internet Explorer 8 goes the development of the new explorer of Microsoft. At the moment, one knows that the greater priority of the company is to implement all the supports of RSS, CSS and AJAX within this new project.
In addition, also they have commented which this navigator will include support for the microformats, small labels written in code HTML that can be interpreted of different form, or like dates of a calendar or information of contact. The support for these microformats already was announced for the new version of Firefox, reason why Microsoft also will include it not to be behind its main competitor.
In fact, this new version of Internet Explorer is an answer towards Firefox 3, since Microsoft does not want that the navigator of Mozilla to them continues taking terrain. At the moment, the date of launching is not known, but Chris Wilson has announced that, at least, needs a year more development or even something more, reason why surely will be necessary to wait for near a year and means to be able to enjoy this new IE.
Here are some of the fake images of Internet Explorer 8 Alpha
They are just Word 2007 with IE7, as you can see they are bad photoshopped versions, with the word status bar/word count in the bottom, and the wrong tabstitle bar for the page open, along with bad graphics and spelling errors!
Some details of Microsoft internal blueprints for so called “Windows Vienna” and “Internet Explorer 8” managed to get leaked on the Internet by Channel9 regular and Microsoft insider “jamie”, as seen in this
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=323949
post and this post
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=323988
on their forums. Unfortunately Microsoft quickly locked the thread and deleted the contents, but a few lucky people like myself manged to peek in before then. Since Microsoft seems hellbent in keeping this information secret, I have no other choice but to share my knowledge with the rest of the Internet.
Microsoft Insider wrote:
Reading the blueprints gives you an idea about how the inside of Microsoft works. It seems Microsoft is well aware about the existence of Firefox and Linux and plan to leverage their technologies in their new products, and they aren't the least bit secretive about it (at least internally). Some features planned for Internet Explorer 8 include “undo close tab (like Firefox)”, and “saving and restoring sessions (like Firefox)”. For Windows Vienna, expect “virtual desktops (like Linux)”, and “the ability to rearrange items on the task bar”. Keep in mind attributions are copied verbatim from Microsoft's task list. In an interesting move Microsoft will make the next version of Windows theming completely customizable, the internal e-mail says. The most interesting about the new version of Windows is virtualization will be prominent for “legacy apps”, all applications not specifically written for Window Vienna or in .NET will be run on a separate virtual machine. This is comparable to how Mac OS X handled Mac OS 9. Windows Vienna will also feature “Windows Core”, the ability to separate GUI and console from each other as in Windows Server 2008.
Expect to see “Windows Vienna” on store shelves some time in 2009. The final name, however, has not been revealed.
Internet Explorer 8.0 will support microformats
factoryjoe.com wrote:
We now have confirmation that something that many of us in the community have suspected for some time (owing to Ray Ozzie’s Live Clipboard demo): that upcoming versions of Internet Explorer, expected some time in the next 12-18 months, will include support for microformats.
“Mash-ups will continue to drive innovation. Componentization and semantic tagging of data will be supported,” Wilson told the Ajax Experience crowd. Wilson touted the harnessing of microformats, like Microsoft has done with its Live Clipboard effort, as “real world stuff” that will “make the Web much more usable.”
Quote:
“Microformats add meaning to content in HTML,”
Wilson said.
With discussions around support for microformats in Firefox 3, and Apple showing strong support for microformats as well, it’s only a very short amount of time before we can move on from the “so who’s using microformats?” question to “okay, so now what can we do with them?”
At the Mix'07 conference in Las Vegas—Microsoft's annual event for web designers and developers—the spotlight has largely been on Microsoft's Silverlight platform, formerly known as Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere. Silverlight is a set of tools for developing rich, Flash-like web applications. Less talk has focused around the web browser that will provide the primary user interface for all this new technology. On the Internet Explorer blog, Chris Wilson hinted at some of the things that might be coming in IE 8, while declining to give specific details.
Quote:
While details may be lacking, the structure of the conferences planned for Mix'07 gives a few hints. Improvements in RSS, CSS, and AJAX support are all being given high priority. It is also widely speculated that IE 8 will include support for microformats, small tags embedded in HTML code that can be interpreted in various ways by software, such as calendar events or contact information. Microformat support is scheduled for Firefox 3, so IE 8 will have to include them in order to keep up. The new version may also include more options for user interface customization, as that was one of the biggest criticisms of IE 7, and one which the developers often blamed on lack of time.
The fact that there will be an IE 8 at all is a testament to the fact that the web browser market has become competitive again. When IE 6 finally vanquished Netscape, the team that created Microsoft's browser was largely thrown to the winds, and development slowed to a crawl. It took Firefox gaining a ten percent market share to cause Microsoft to respond with IE 7.
Despite continued criticism over the slow development of IE 7, it is clear that Microsoft isn't ignoring the browser any more. A timeline for the release of IE 8 isn't available yet, but Microsoft is hinting that there will be at least another year of development, which would make it approximately 18 months after the release of IE 7. Microsoft isn't currently planning any interim releases, such as 7.1 or 7.5, but the browser does continue to be updated with bugfixes and security patches through Windows Update.
Softpedia wrote:
At the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft has confirmed that the development of Internet Explorer 8.0 has already debuted. Coincidentally, at MIX 06, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates promised that releases of Internet Explorer will be separated by 9 to 12 months maximum. In this context, Internet Explorer 8.0 should be launched towards the final quarter of 2008.
However, the Microsoft representative at CES 2007 pointed out to a period of 18 to 24 months until Internet Explorer 8.0 hits the market. Additionally, speculations reveal that Microsoft will not release an interim Internet Explorer version 7.x, but will rather concentrate its efforts on the development of IE8.
Another interesting supposition regarding IE 8 states that an alpha edition of Internet Explorer 8 has already been deployed in-house at Microsoft.
Who needs Internet Explorer 7 when you can just wait for Internet Explorer 8? According to ActiveWin, Microsoft has already been working diligently on Internet Explorer 7's successor, and there are no plans for the team to stop for a service pack. The Internet Explorer development team will supposedly have the next version ready to go out the door within the next two years.
Quote:
One Microsoft official at CES has told ActiveWin.com that work has already begun for IE 8, the next version of Internet Explorer, and we can expect to see a final product within 18-24 months. In addition, there are reportedly no plans for an interim service pack, but rather focus completely on the next version, which will compete even more directly with Firefox.
ActiveWin's report is completely plausible, but we weren't able to verify the rumor. Instead, a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars that the company is not prepared to discuss future iterations of the browser.
Quote:
Microsoft is committed to Internet Explorer and is actively working on the next version of the browser. We are excited about the positive reception Internet Explorer 7 has received and are currently looking at market feedback and customer needs as we work on future versions. However we are not commenting on future plans at this time.
How do you feel about Microsoft skipping out on service packs for Internet Explorer 7 and jumping straight into Internet Explorer 8? As long as the browser is kept as secure as possible, I can't see why that would be a problem. If Microsoft is listening, I'd like to see Internet Explorer 8 be a little more developer-friendly. I use Firefox because of all the wonderful Extensions, but I would consider switching back to Internet Explorer if Microsoft had something even close to comparable. I will say that Add-Ons are definitely a step in the right direction, though... though still not open source
Skipping out for the service packs for Internet Explorer 7 and jumping straight into Internet Explorer 8 does not bother me because I just use this browser once in a while anyway. The browser I use is Firefox, that's why.
Just as he was the first to talk about IE7,Bill Gates kept the tradition alive and discussed IE8 at the Mix ‘nMash event here on campus yesterday. Bill was talking to some bloggersabout IE.Next and called it IE8, the same way we do here in the IE teamhallway.
So, yes, the version after IE7 is IE8. We looked at a lot ofoptions for the product name. Among the names we considered and ruledout:
Quote:
IE 7+1
IE VIII
IE 1000 (think binary)
IE Eight!
iIE
IE for Web 2.0 (Service Pack 2)
IEDesktop Online Web Browser Live Professional Ultimate Edition for theInternet (the marketing team really pushed for this one
Ie2.079 (we might still use this for the Math Major Edition)
Of course, some people care about other aspects of IE8 much morethan they care about the name. As I’ve walked different people throughthe plan, I’ve gotten “Does it have feature X?†“When is the beta?â€â€œWhen does it release†and even the more thoughtful “What are youtrying to accomplish with this release?â€
You will hear a lot more from us soon on this blog and inother places. In the meantime, please don’t mistake silence forinaction.
Dean Hachamovitch
General Manager