Digital Daily » IE 8

Microsoft Announces Internet SafariFox Beta 2

John Paczkowski — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:02:04 +0000

It’s taken nearly a decade but Microsoft has finally debuted the first significant overhaul of its Web browser since Internet Explorer 5. The company released IE8 Beta 2 Wednesday afternoon, and by most accounts, it’s a solid update. In fact, it might even put IE on par with competing browsers like Mozilla’s Firefox and Apple’s Safari. Certainly, this latest iteration, with its new privacy and security features, adherence to Web standards, enhanced tabbed browsing and “smart address bar” (a location bar similar to Firefox 3’s “Awesome Bar”), proves that Microsoft (MSFT) has at least caught up with its rivals in the browser space. “This is a top-to-bottom makeover,” says Ed Bott. “It’s packed with usability improvements, security enhancements, and a platform for new add-ins that third-party developers are already taking advantage of.” Which is a good thing, because IE’s increasingly stale feature set has caused a bit of decline in the browser’s market share. In the last year IE lost six percentage points of market share, falling to 73 percent, while Firefox’s market share rose to 19 percent.

IE 8 Team Nearly Finished Copying Safari 10.3 Feature Set

John Paczkowski — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:46:43 +0000

Apple’s Safari browser has offered “private browsing” since 2005, Firefox since 2006 (via the Stealther extension), and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer may soon offer it as well. Earlier this week, Natya Nadella, senior VP of Microsoft’s search, portal and advertising platform group, said the company is planning to give IE 8 a privacy feature for erasing search histories and the other data that browsers often log automatically. Now iStartedSomething has discovered two trademark filings that may apply to the new feature. The first, for “Cleartracks,” describes a program for deleting search history after accessing Web sites. The second, “InPrivate,” disables a browser’s history and file-caching features, notifies users when their browsing is being monitored and controls access to the details of their browsing sessions.

Handy tools for when you’re researching a medical condition at work, shopping online for family Christmas presents, or you know, SURFING PORN, which is, after all, what the Internet was designed for. …

Microsoft to Jerry Seinfeld: Think Different

John Paczkowski — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:00:59 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]