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A First Look At Internet Explorer 8 RC1

bogaboga writes "TG Daily reports that Microsoft quietly released the first update to its IE8 beta 2 to its closest partners last week. This new version only scores a dismal 12/100 on the Acid 3 test, though the score improves significantly if one leaves the [browser] window open for at least a minute. It is marked as 'Release Candidate 1.'"

16 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Some people STILL think they should use IE by theaveng · · Score: 3, Informative

    Like this guy: http://www.highdefforum.com/768120-post19.html

    I don't know how someone can say "IE is not any more vulnerable" with a straight face. And it only scored 12/100 on compatibility tests? RUN from IE.

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  2. Re:Damn, did I really not know? by will_die · · Score: 4, Informative

    In Microsoft speak a RC is a feature complete product, parts are still buggy but the capabilities are in, they still reservice the right to add features but will not remove them.
    Now that is not to say that things still will not change for instance with the release of parts of Office 2007 some products would work in the RC phase on Windows 2000 but come release they stopped working. However at that phase you can usally start developing for the new product and it will work on the release with at most minor changes.

  3. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    There is a timed component to the ACID test. Some of the tests can take a while to run, so they have a limit set if you want to pass validation. Something IE can do apparently takes a while.

  4. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    what's worse is the "significant" improvement is a 21/100! still pityful

  5. Even simple HTML can crash IE8 by VJTod · · Score: 5, Informative

    This simple HTML still crashes Beta2.  It will probably still crash the RTM.  This was a trick I found back in 2002.  I had reported it somewhere, but obviously nowhere important.

    <table>
    <tr>
    <td><div style="width:100%;height:100%"/></td>
    <td>
    <div>
    <span style="height:100%;width:50%">></td>
    <span style="height:100%;width:50%">></td>
    </div>
    </td>
    <td><div style="width:100%;height:100%"/></td>
    </tr>
    </table>

    1. Re:Even simple HTML can crash IE8 by twistah · · Score: 5, Informative

      This is a highly ignorant comment. A browser should never crash due to poorly written HTML, or due to anything. From the security angle, this is at least a DoS, but likely something more. Take a look at the IE7 0-day which is affecting millions of users. It is not a buffer overflow; it's a simple crash. However, because of JavaScript, one is able to manipulate ("spray") the heap enough to a point where even a simple crash can be used for code execution. ANY crash in a browser should be taken seriously.

  6. Re:Good by spinkham · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually, ~50 % of websites tested in the past year by WhiteHat Security. It's the best metric we currently have for security flaws, as WhiteHat has many customers across quite a few industries, and they are all automatically retested over time. It has little to do with the browser targeted, and everything to do with the web frameworks used, the knowledge of the programmers, and the testing or lack thereof most websites get before deployment.

    If you check xssed.com you'll see that near 100% of websites have had XSS vulnerabilities in the past.

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    Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups.
  7. Re:Damn, did I really not know? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    RC is equivilent to when a Linux distro does a freeze and just takes in compatibility and bug fixes before a release. Basically puts a stop to feature creep that might cause more delays.

    Everything thats gonna be in is there, they are just testing and fixing now.

  8. Re:Good by spinkham · · Score: 3, Informative

    IE8 gives a number of mechanisms for either you or Microsoft to request the legacy IE7 renderer for your website. is all it takes to not have to add IE 8 specific version of your website.

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    Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups.
  9. Re:Why It Takes an Extra Minute by Amouth · · Score: 2, Informative

    i just go with the best of both worlds.. i own a volvo and an MG.. one is basicly maintence free for 120k miles.. the other required me to bring my tools to get it running so i could drive it home (well half way.. the other half i used a tow truck)

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    '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
  10. Re:Why It Takes an Extra Minute by sexconker · · Score: 5, Informative

    You COULDN'T care less.
    You could not care any less, because you absolutely do not care.

    If you COULD care less, then you care some non-minimal amount.

  11. Re:Not following standards costs us by jc364 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, IE 8 passes the Acid 2 test (yes, they are last, but its an improvement). Not to mention that Microsoft contributed 2524 test cases to the CSS 2.1 test suite. I'm a web developer, and I know the horrors of developing for multiple browsers (especially IE), but I have to give Microsoft some credit for their interest in standards in this coming IE version.

    Also, the acid tests are just one indicator of how well a browser does standards. To make it the defining standards test would not be completely fair. More info on that here.

  12. Still Beta by Alvare · · Score: 2, Informative

    Isn't IE 7 still Beta?

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    #!/bin/python

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    4 - A robot may not masturbate, except where such action would conflict with the Second Law.
  13. Re:real FP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    No, but that is...

  14. Re:IE 10 by operagost · · Score: 2, Informative

    They continued to release updates to the stand-alone browser while working on the dead-end NS5. When they started on NS5, the browser was at 4.05 and when they killed it, it was up to 4.7x.

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    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  15. Re:Why It Takes an Extra Minute by Eskarel · · Score: 2, Informative

    Acid 3 is not a web-standards test because the "standards"(html 5, css 3) that it tests are not yet standard.

    If Microsoft sits on IE and doesn't continue to upgrade it then IE 8 failing ACID 3 is a problem, but as to the best of my knowledge neither of the proposed specifications has been ratified yet and very little of it is actually going to make it into web pages in the next year or so it's not that big a deal.

    Passing ACID 2 is a big deal, passing ACID 3 is only a big deal if IE 9 doesn't do it.

    Opera and webkit pass ACID 3, but that's because they've focused specifically on doing so. Personally I think that Apple would have been better off focusing on making safari not crap than trying to get webkit to pass ACID 3, and Chrome isn't much better. Opera is a different situation, but it's got its own problems and is really focused on a different market.

    I'm a web developer. I want IE to support the current web standards correctly, and IE 8 appears to do that from what I've seen. I want to see IE 9 follow on soon after and I'd like to see that pass ACID 3. I really don't give a rats if IE 8 does because I don't need it to right now.