MIX: Download IE8 Beta here, web standards, acid, roadmap

Mix 08 Microsoft will not justsupport new and popular technologies in Internet Explorer 8, it's alsoattempting to build community support for the historicallystandards-challenged browser.
Not only will IE 8 - unveiled and launched as a beta today- support cascading style sheet (CSS) 2.1 from release, but Microsofthas also released code for a CSS test suite spanning 702 tests to theWorld Wide Web Consortium (W3C), with a view to establishing anindustry based standard test suite for CSS.
document.write('\x3Cscript src="http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net/adj/reg.developer.4159/code;'+RegExCats+GetVCs()+'chl=msdotnet;pid='+RegId+';'+RegKW+'maid='+maid+';test='+test+';pf='+RegPF+';dcove=d;sz=336x280;tile=3;ord=' + rand + '?" type="text/javascript">\x3C\/script>'); <ahref="http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net/jump/reg.developer.4159/code;chl=msdotnet;dcove=d;sz=336x280;tile=3;ord=CgbYydRk6jcAAEDJ7XgAAAJt?"target="_blank"><imgsrc="http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net/ad/reg.developer.4159/code;chl=msdotnet;dcove=d;sz=336x280;tile=3;ord=CgbYydRk6jcAAEDJ7XgAAAJt?"width="336" height="280" border="0" alt="" />
Microsoft's test cases have been published under BSD.

"Our goal of full [CSS] compliance has challenges. Interoperabilityhas many challenges...until we standardize how we all test standardscompatibility, no one can tell what everyone has done," IE generalmanager Dean Hachamovitch told Mix 08 Wednesday.

Of course, there are those who might suggest it's only Microsoftthat has problems hitting standards around interoperability and istrying to change the debate and buy time for IE 8 by putting the onuson the industry to revisit standards.

In doing so, Microsoft would be at liberty to press ahead with IE 8development and to then certify to any W3C test suite afterwards, onceproduct development is complete - without really making things any moreinteroperable.

That's a tactic from the vendor playbook that served Microsoft andothers well, baking web services specifications into products earlierthis decade to hit delivery targets and build market share - before thespecifications themselves or the testing and certification processeswere actually finished.

Hachamovitch also issued a "call to action" to developers to makesure content built for IE 8 works well with the legacy web, meaningsites geared for IE 7. IE 8 will feature an emulation button to testsites under development.
'Developers would answer the question...'
Code, meanwhile, for planned IE 8 features designed to simplifylinking to online services such as eBay, called Activities, or tosubscribe to just a part of a page, called Web Slices, have beenreleased for community for feedback under the Creative Commonsattribution license and under Microsoft's Open Specification. "[We] have published samples and are taking feedback," Hachamovitch said.

According to Hachamovitch, Activities will let the user right clickon a web page and pull in maps or pages, like that eBay page, withoutneed for more coding or add-ins by the developer. Developers write "alittle bit" of XML code instead. With Web Slices, once you havesubscribed to a source, a tile - like a tab - will appear in IE'snavigation menu enabling you to keep track of things like eBay auctions.

It was a difficult pitch for Hachamovitch who opened his Mix 08 IE 8preview to mutterings of discontent over IE's lamentable level ofsupport for web standards. That has created problems for developersbuilding content for sites that must work with multiple browsers.

Referring to IE 7, Hachamovitch said: "My kids would hear storiesabout how the web isn't working as it should, and they'd ask me:'Daddy, did you break the web?' Developers would answer the question alittle differently," which prompted one keynote audience member sittingbehind Reg Dev to growl "much differently."

Hachamovitch continued - clearly in naked defiance of Microsoft'strack record on IE vulnerabilities - that Microsoft's problems in"breaking the web" weren't down to security, but down tointeroperability instead. "For all we did in security and userexperience, there's more we can do for developers...developers spenttoo much of their scarce time just getting basic things to work. Withthat in mind, we started IE 8."
Other IE 8 features include support for HTML 5, the ability to viewwireless content offline, improved performance, and simplifieddebugging during development with the ability to find scriptsautomatically.

Microsoft is to develop IE8 so that it follows web standards by default and will retain a controversial mode switching proposal.

Internet Explorer general manager Dean Hachamovitch conceded thatthe move is a change from what Microsoft had previously said andprompted (at least in part) by a desire to avoid regulatory and legalproblems.

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In a poston Microsoft's IE development blog, Hachamovitch said: "We've decidedthat IE8 will, by default, interpret web content in the most standardscompliant way it can. This decision is a change from what we've postedpreviously.

"IE8’s default is a demonstration of [Microsoft's] interoperabilityprinciples in action. While we do not believe any current legalrequirements would dictate which rendering mode a browser must use,this step clearly removes this question as a potential legal andregulatory issue," he added.

Although not explicitly stated, it is reasonable to conclude thatOpera's recent complaint to the EU as well as anti-trust fines informedMicrosoft's volte-face. Whether the move will help Microsoft skirtregulatory problems is open for debate.

Modern browsers (including IE, Firefox, Safari, and Opera) sportmultiple content-rendering modes – including ones supporting strictinterpretation of certain web standards as well as quirks modes neededto offer compatibility with pages that pre-date modern standards.

MS is now going to use IE8 standard as default. Developers who wanttheir pages shown using IE8’s “IE7 Standards mode” will need to requestthat using a meta tag. This mode switching approach has been criticised by rival developers, such as Opera.

Microsoft's legacy of not sticking to web standards as closely as,for example, Opera, in the past has left it with more problems thanother developers in sticking to standards.

For example, the transition from IE6 to IE7 was complicated by pagesthat rendered well in IE6 standard mode but not IE7 standard mode.Microsoft expects similar problems with the move to IE8, but haschanged its approach to solving the problems.

IE8 will have three rendering modes: one that reflects Microsoft'simplementation of current web standards, an IE7 standards mode, and athird based on rendering methods dating back to the early web. The IE8standards mode will now be applied by default. Previously, the IE7standards mode would have been preferred.

IE8 will include an IE7 standards mode as well as a "purer" IE8standards mode so that developers can still select it as an option.
"This facility would be helpful as the web moves gradually from thelarge quantity of legacy content authored around IE7's behaviors to anew era of much more interoperable and web standards compliantbrowsers," Hachamovitch explains.

Mix 08 Microsoft has defended anInternet Explorer 8 roadmap that gambles on the successful completionof unbaked standards and qualified support of W3C initiatives.

Yesterday Chris Wilson, IE platform architect, said Microsoft hadpicked elements of HTML 5 and CSS 2.1 from the World Wide WebConsortium (W3C) that it believes are reliable and stable. And, headded, Microsoft will put its own resources behind the standards workto ensure successful completion.

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"Once we pick something we invest in that area and put people in thestandards effort," Wilson told a Mix 08 session on IE 8 when challengedby one delegate on the wisdom of backing unfinished standards out ofthe gate.

Microsoft is not alone in banking on HTML 5 and CSS 2.1.Mozilla already supports HTML 5 in Firefox, and there is also supportfor CSS 2.1 in Firefox and Opera. While support is not universal, it isa beginning; support across all browsers should help simplify and savetime on development of web applications.

Microsoft is taking a wait-and-see attitude in some areas. Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG),for example, is being recommended by the W3C. It is included in Firefoxand supported in Safari. But Wilson played the limited resources cardand indicated IE 8 will not provide SVG capabilities. Microsoft gavethe same reason a year ago for not porting its Silverlight media playerto Linux.

"We have to pick which [technologies] we support first. We have todo a complete and detailed job first before we move onto something elseand do a partial job. That's certainly been a problem in the past,"Wilson said.

There are also no immediate plans to make IE 8 compatible with the newly released Acid 3 browser test either. Microsoft only recently caught up to rival browsers by passing the previous Acid 2 test.

Wilson expressed mixed feelings towards Acid. First he called it"opportunistic about choosing different parts of different standards".Then he said "there are some great tests in Acid 3." However: "I can'tstate when we might or might not pass it."

Among the HTML 5 features Microsoft singled out arewindow.location.hash for back navigation of elements within a web page,sessionStore and localStore instead of cookies and UserData, which werenot cross-browser compatible, and support for Accessible Rich InternetApplications (ARIA).

On the CSS 2.1 front, Microsoft is making a fresh start by dropping the troubleome hasLayoutfor rendering in the newly announced IE 8 standards mode.Floating-point elements and border collapsing using Microsoft rendingare also gone.

Wilson also said Microsoft is looking forward to CSS 3 for box sizing and vertical text.

In other changes to IE 8, Microsoft is working to improve management, performance, security and development.

All add ons - not just those for Active X - will be stored in oneplace making it easier for users to see what extensions are loaded. Onperformance, Jscript will collect garbage in the Jscript engine ratherthan wait for things to be thrown away.

Security is being reworked to accommodate mash-ups. IE 8 willimplement XdomainRequest object (XDR) permitting cross-domain HTTPrequests, which will require an HTTP header from a server to operate.It will also be possible for users to run Active X controls for aparticular site, reducing the opportunity for malicious script toinstall and run.

IE 8 will feature a built-in CSS, HTML and JavaScript debugger thatWilson said will let developers inspect variables, expressions, style,layout and other elements with the single click of a button. "This isnot a replacement for any other tools. We think it's important to havea set of really good development tools attached to the browser so youcan see what's gong on in the browser while you are debugging."

Hands-on With Microsoft's IE8 Beta
You might want to proceed with caution before trying IE8. We forgedahead and installed the beta - and experienced more browser crashesduring my hands-on than ever before. Prior to installing the IE8 beta,we had Internet Explorer 7 happily running along.

IE8 Coverage and Sources

The Internet Explorer 8 beta toolbar (istartedsomething.com)
Microsoft promises IE8 beta in June (vnunet.com)
Confirmation: Internet Explorer 8 beta testing has begun (betanews.com)
Private IE 8 beta 1 test build coming soon (blogs.zdnet.com)
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Available on Connect (techtoday.110mb.com)
Microsoft on IE8: we won't break the Web (itnews.com.au)
Microsoft Prepares to Unveil IE8 Features At MIX08 (dailytech.com)
Dean Hachamovitch to show IE8 at MIX Keynote (visitmix.com)
Microsoft Stresses Backward Compatibility for IE8 (pcworld.com)
Compatibility and IE8 (blogs.msdn.com)
EC to investigate Internet Explorer (broadband-finder.co.uk)
Internet Explorer 8 Passes the 'Acid2' Test (internetnews.com)
IE 8 Beta 1 in First Half of 2008 (pcworld.com)
Microsoft still short on details surrounding IE8 (betanews.com)
Gates: Next IE to be IE8 (news.com)
Is Microsoft Getting Ready to Let the IE8 Genie Out of the Bottle? (news.softpedia.com)
Users clamoring again for an Internet Explorer 8 update (blogs.zdnet.com)
Web developers impatient for Internet Explorer news (seattlepi.nwsource.com)
Internet Explorer 8? 2008? 2009? (news.softpedia.com)
Microsoft's Chris Wilson confirms all-new layout engine in IE.Next (sitepoint.com)
Internet Explorer 8.0: The silence is deafening (blogs.zdnet.com)
IE8 trial coming soon (pcplus.co.uk)
CompTIA: IE voted 'most influential' tech product (news.com.com)
Windows Vienna & IE 8 features Leaked (msinsider.blogspot.com)
Next version of Windows: Call it 7 (news.com.com)
Firefox now a serious threat to IE in Europe (osdir.com)
Fake IE8 Alpha screenshots appear on the Web (it-newz.blogspot.com)
Internet Explorer 9 to ship with Windows 7? (techtheblog.blogspot.com)
Internet Explorer 8 Beta to begin later this year (thehotfix.net)
Preparing your site for IE.next (webdevout.net)
Firefox more likely to be fully patched than IE (computerworld.com.au)
IE7 Interest: Flat (pcworld.com)
Are IE8 and Web Standards Compatibility Compatible? (itbusinessedge.com)
Microsoft hints at general plan for IE 8 (news.com.com)
Microsoft drops hints about Internet Explorer 8 (arstechnica.com)
'IE8 compatible' - the cure for web standards headache? (theregister.co.uk)
What's next for Internet Explorer? Microsoft opens up (a little) (blogs.zdnet.com)
Microsoft's latest spin on Web apps (news.com.com)
IE8 details to be unveiled next week (tech.co.uk)
What to Expect from IE at MIX07 (blogs.msdn.com)
Internet Explorer 8 and the semantic web (technextblog.blogspot.com)
Internet Explorer 8.0 Is Taking Shape (ouredutainment.blogspot.com)
Worm poses as Internet Explorer 7 beta download (itwire.com.au)
Microsoft, Canvas, and the WHATWG (ajaxian.com)
Microsoft releases "Deepfish" browser for Windows Mobile (engadget.com)
Firefox more popular than IE in some European countries (xitimonitor.com)
The first new feature of Internet Explorer 8? (apcmag.com)
Microsoft responds to DOT ban on Vista, IE7, Office (blogs.zdnet.com)
IE7, Vista and Office 2007 banned by U.S. DOT (informationweek.com)
IE loses ground in US; holds its ground worldwide (arstechnica.com)
Internet Explorer market share now below 80% (computerweekly.com)
Talking with Microsoft about IE.next (webstandards.org)
Internet Explorer 8.0 Available for Download on P2P? (news.softpedia.com)
Microsoft starts gathering IE 8 input (blogs.zdnet.com)
IE8: What Do You Want To See? (windowsconnected.com)
Microsoft Is Already Running Internet Explorer 8.0 (news.softpedia.com)
Is Internet Explorer 8 in the works? (arstechnica.com)
Next versions of IE and Firefox taking shape (blogs.zdnet.com)
Internet Explorer 8 somewhere in MIX07? (lorgor.net)
Internet Explorer To Flag Verified 'Safe' Sites (entmag.com)
10 must haves in IE Next (456bereastreet.com)
The History of Internet Explorer (microsoft.com)
Firefox 3.0 goes Alpha but little word yet on IE8 (itwire.com.au)
Vista Boosts IE 7 Security Features (browsersecuritynews.com)
Ideas for IE8 (channel9.msdn.com)
IE.next to support CSS3 colours? (css3.info)
Microsoft slowly begins IE 7 auto-upgrade (infoworld.com)
What comes after IE 7? (blogs.zdnet.com)
Internet Explorer to stomp pop-ups (news.com.com)
You can improve IE.next (webstandards.org)
Microsoft is already working on Internet Explorer 8 (dmxzone.com)
"IE8.0 Alpha" screenshots (activewin.com)
IE 8.0 will support microformats (factoryjoe.com)
Up next: IE 8.0 (blogs.zdnet.com)
IE 7 Is AJAX-Ready, MS working on IE Next (eweek.com)
IE8 out on 8/8/8? (navegadores.org)
MS sharing some hints about IE 8.0, aka IE Next (blogs.zdnet.com)
Things IE7 didn't fixed (forevergeek.com)

Users who try to reach Windows Update with Internet Explorer 8(IE8) Beta 1 are greeted with a message stating, "To use this site, youmust be running Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later."

IE8 Beta 1 was released last week after an unveiling at MIX08, the Web developer conference Microsoft hosted last week in Las Vegas. The preliminary version runs on Windows XP , Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008.

Userswere understandably confused when IE8 refused to call up WindowsUpdate. "After updating my IE7 to IE8 today, I tried to update my Windows Vista by visiting the Windows Update Web site, but then I was redirected to an error page," said a user identified as zkyboy on a Microsoft support newsgroups. "Why? IS IE8 not the latest version browser?"
How to Rectify
Toreach Windows Update, IE8 Beta 1 users must click on the "Emulate IE7"button, which switches the new browser into IE7 mode. That requires arestart of IE8, however.

"Windows Update is updating their site to support IE8," said a Microsoft employee named Eric Law in a comment to an IE development team blogpost last Thursday. "For now, click the Emulate IE7 Button, restart allIE windows, and visit [Windows Update]. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Computerworld confirmed that the IE7 emulation mode within IE8 allowed access to Windows Update.
Other Problems
Elsewhere, users have reported problems accessing or rendering other sites with IE8 Beta 1, including Facebook, Google Inc.'s Gmail and Microsoft's own Windows Live Mail.

Ofcourse, quirks and bugs are common in beta software, a factacknowledged by some who left comments on the IE development blog."Reading a lot of those crash 'victims' above, I hate to say it, butthis is a Beta," said a user labeled as IT_guy. "I would not besurprised to learn that they have a gazillion array of add-ons,toolbars and utilities blighting the browser. Those vendors are goingto have to shape up and re-tool."

IE8 Beta 1 can be downloaded from Microsoft's site.

ternet Explorer 8 can be installed on Microsoft Windows Vista^{®                Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Vista, Windows XP^{® Service Pack 2                (SP2), Windows Server^{® 2008 and Windows Server^{2003                Service Pack 2 (SP2). Downloads are                available from the following locations:}}}}               Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

                              Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Vista x64 Edition and Windows                Server 2008 x64 Edition

               Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows XP SP2

                              Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Server 2003 SP2

                              Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Server 2003 SP2 x64 Edition                and Windows XP SP2 Pro x64 Edition