Internet Explorer 8 release candidate now available

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ie8-logo.pngInternet Explorer 8’s been in beta for a while now – nearly six months – so it’s nice to see that it’s finally made its way into a release candidate form. If you’re bored of the Windows 7 beta already, then why not give it a spin?

Since we last reported on it, the ‘compatibility mode’ has become automatic – switching whenever the IE8 engine can’t render a page properly, rather than having to be triggered on demand. There’s also built-in clickjacking prevention, and Microsoft has updated the InPrivate (porn) mode and the filtering system.

But the big question is – is it worth changing back to? Well, in all honesty, it’s not doing anything better than any of the other big players right now, merely catching up. There’s nothing necessarily worse here than Firefox, except that the library of extensions isn’t as diverse.

Me? I’ll stick with Chrome. Its zippity speed eclipses my need for extensions. When I want to go to Digg, I’ll go to Digg – I don’t need a Digg toolbar. When I need a weather forecast, I’ll visit BBC Weather, rather than using Forecastfox, which is of dubious merit anyway. Chrome for me all the way, baby.

And you lot? Well, 45% of you are on Firefox, 40% on IE, 7% on Safari, 4% on Chrome, 3% on Opera and the remaining 1% on a variety of devices including the PSP. Which browser do you favour, and why? Let us know in the comments.

IE8 RC1 (via ReadWriteWeb)

Related posts: Internet Explorer browser usage dives below 70%, Firefox hits 20% | Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 is out – 5 reasons why you should try it

Duncan Geere
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