First Look: IE8 beta 2

InPrivate mode keeps your browsing history secret

I have used Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) intensively since its beta 2 release on 27 August, mostly with good results.

The improved HTML and CSS standards support in IE8 does break pages, and I found plenty of examples, but Microsoft has minimised the pain with a brilliant instant-fix compatibility button.

Speed improvements are real as well and, even running in a virtual machine, IE8 feels brisker than its predecessor. The updated user interface feels polished and smooth.

Microsoft has also done some good security work. By default, ActiveX controls only work on the site from which they are downloaded, with the exception of a few widely-used controls like Adobe's Flash.

The new option for InPrivate Browsing, known colloquially as 'porn mode', seems to work as promised by not recording site visits in browser history; and its partner, called InPrivate Blocking, lets users block content from third-party sites.

Users may not realise that their activity can still be tracked outside the browser, for example by proxy server logs, but I expect this will still be a welcome feature.

Microsoft's efforts to "reach beyond the page", as the blurb promises, are not so compelling.

Accelerators are pop-up menus that appear when you select text, with options like translating the text or searching for a word definition. It is mildly useful, but nothing special.

Web slices bring you content from other sites in a miniature window, but the difficulty here is that the toolbar soon gets cluttered.

Suggested Sites is meant to recommend pages like the current one, but has so far failed to come up with anything remotely interesting; mostly it is not even sensible. This should improve as Microsoft gathers more data.

All credit to Microsoft for a strong upgrade from IE7, and for improved standards support that will eventually help the web to move on from the IE6 deep-freeze.

Still, is it good enough, given the fast pace of browser development elsewhere? There are nagging doubts.

Microsoft in 2008 seems less nimble than the company that won the first browser wars. It will be a full two years since IE7 when this new one finally gets released.

There is plenty more to do, standards are moving on with HTML 5.0, and IE8 will not satisfy developers for long. Exciting features like just-in-time JavaScript compilation in Firefox alphas will make IE8 seem slow.

Another weakness is that Microsoft lacks the vibrant third-party add-on community enjoyed by its main rival.

IE8 promises to be an excellent browser, but it will take more than this to win back real momentum on the web.