de.tech.ting

Yes, that’s judgmental.  Especially considering I haven’t even tried Microsoft’s latest browser upgrade.  But, seriously, have you used IE7?

A friend said to me just yesterday: “Internet Explorer is the bane of every CSS developer’s existence.”

So many people using it just because it’s a convenient default browser does not a good product make.

So, with trepidation (and some cautious notes from Walt Mossberg) I will test it out and report back.

IE8 is more stable than IE7, more compatible with industrywide Web standards, and packed with new features that improve navigation, search, ease of use, privacy and security.

Some of these features can’t be matched out of the box by its main rival browsers. For instance, related tabs are color-coded, the search field can show images along with text, you can get instant fly-out maps of place names in Web pages, and you can easily hide your tracks online from the prying eyes of advertisers.

But, in my tests, IE8 wasn’t as fast as Firefox, or two other notable browsers — the Windows version of Apple’s (AAPL) new Safari 4 and Google’s (GOOG) Chrome. IE8 loaded a variety of pages I tested more slowly than any of the other browsers, and it grew sluggish when juggling a large number of Web pages opened simultaneously in tabs

Microsoft Ups Ante With New Browser | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD