According to Microsoft, Internet Explorer 8, the next iteration of its proprietary browser, as well as the successor of IE7, is alive and kicking and even standards compliant. But if you are like me, then you'll need some sort of palpable proof, and a hands-on experience in order to qualify as a consistent sign of life. At the MIX06 conference a couple of years back, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates introduced Internet Explorer 7, the browser that was released later that year in October. MIX07 was focused almost exclusively on Microsoft's Flash killer, Silverlight, and only scarce details of IE8 were presented, the company still referring to the browser version of IE as Next.
Although by the end of 2007 it had already been confirmed that Microsoft was
running early development milestones of Internet Explorer 8 inhouse, Dean Hachamovitch, IE General Manager, following a reference of the browser made by Gates, also "unveiled" IE8 to the world. Namely, just the label that the next version of IE will bear.
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