Linux Solutions

The release of Internet Explorer 8 beta has been pushed back to a 2009 release. The “standards-compatible” upcoming edition of the browser will appear in beta form in the first quarter of the year, followed by a final release, according to IE8’s general manager Dean Hachamovitch on his blog.

Hachamovitch didn’t specify an exact release date for the new browser, but said that (for once) Microsoft is planning “to deliver the final product after listening for feedback about critical issues.”

“We will be very selective about what changes we make between the next update and final release. We will act on the most critical issues. We will be super clear about product changes we make between the update and the final release.”

Bill Veghte is the senior vice president of the Windows business group. Back in July, he promised Wall Street investors at Microsoft’s yearly Financial Analysts Meeting that IE8 was due out by the end of this year, but Hachamovitch said that although the beta is pushed back to early 2009, he stressed that the release candidate will be the final product.

The company is clearly worried about how the updated browser will be perceived. With some interesting features in the update such as the introduction of a tag that allows older websites – the ones designed to work in earlier IE versions – to be viewed correctly. This is a worry, as websites face a real possibility of being un-viewable to the user, as IE8 updates it legacy layout engine with CSS 2.1 and HTML 5.0 support.

Hachamovitch said the technical community “should expect the final product to behave as this update does.”

“We want them to test their sites and services with IE 8, make any changes they feel are necessary for the best possible customer experience using IE8, and report any critical issues (e.g., issues impacting robustness, security, backwards compatibility, or completeness with respect to planned standards work).

“Our plan is to deliver the final product after listening for feedback about critical issues,” Hachamovitch said.

For sure, the open source community will be keeping a watchful eye over proceedings, and I must admit that I am curious to find out what the IE8 team will come up with. Its going to have to be impressive after the previous versions was not all that and a bag of potato chips. More news when we have it.