Monday, Microsoft decided to make available to download the first release candidate of its new browser IE8. After a few years of development it seems to be due very soon, Q1 this year is more likely if nothing major is found in the RC1. So, is Microsoft going to fill the gap?

With Mozilla and Opera on their way to release new version of their respective browser, one might wonder if IE8 is going to challenge them. The browser war is not over yet but with all the improvement seen with Chrome, FF 3.1 beta and Opera 10 alpha I don’t see how the Redmond firm is going to win.

The same impression came from IE7, nothing new but loads of things to try to catch up. Still some of the features are worth a word. Besides improving the security Microsoft has worked on the accessibility of  the browser. Better keyboard navigation, enhanced zoom and on page search along with some other tweaks are here to give the user a better Internet experience.

The IE team also promised to make the browser more standards compliant. After claiming to pass the Acid test 2 in 2007 the team has gone quiet on this side. No wonder why after trying the Acid test 3.

IE8 scores 20/100 where FF3 gets 71 and Chrome 79. What the development community was hoping for it still far away. IE8 is certainly not going to render like every other browser which means after special stylesheets for ie6 and 7 we will have to make one for 8.

Conclusion

A step toward the right direction but no there yet. It supports CSS 2.1, its more secure, faster maybe but its not the like of those new browser with CSS 3 support and new javascript engine. Maybe next time Microsoft.