

IE 8 Release candidate available for download (does load faster than Firefox) - seshagiric
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/default.aspx?ocid=ie8_s_5dde9edf-7217-4cca-b687-47a526704568

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jskopek
I wonder how many people here would use IE8 if it was really the best browser
out there. Personally, I've been finding myself turning to chrome over FF
every time I boot up my Windows partition - I value a quick boot up time and
browsing experience over the benefits of extensions.

I've actually found Windows 7 to be the first copy of Window s that I really
wouldn't have a problem using on a day-to-day basis, but my distrust for
Microsoft has been honed for so long I'd probably still avoid it. Is this a
bad thing?

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sharkbrainguy
To me, being open or not is a big factor in being "the best", so if IE8 was
"the best" and ran on the OS's I use then yes. I would use it.

Although I place a high value on extensions as well, so a browsers
extensibility would also be a factor in being the best choice.

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cubicle67
Honestly, I really don't care anymore.

I though I'd be interested, and some time ago I was, but now... whatever.

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mindaugas
I think it's more important to let IE6 die(stop supporting it).

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mootymoots
ah-men...

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mmj
Does load faster the Firefox? O rly?

Firefox 3.1b2 opens in a fraction of the time IE8rc1 opens, on first start and
on re-open.

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GrandMasterBirt
Why I would not use IE8:

Not because it is by MS (hey windows works, and is a heluvalot cheaper than
mac [though you can argue you get what you pay for])

Not because it is by MS (yet again) I don't hate MS just because they are
Microsoft.

Not because it is not cross-platform. Chrome is not cross-platform (yet). More
importantly if it makes my windows experience good, then fuck other platforms.

Not even because of the memory requirements. If I browse the web I want my
computer 100% used up to make the absolute best experience for myself. If I
want a browser and play a video game I would hope my OS can page-swap (IE8 was
supposed to have a huge memory footprint).

Why? Because of plugins. Making plugins for firefox is encouraged, supported,
free, and more importantly firefox is built on being customizeable. IE... not
so much. And since most geeks and technology enthusiasts don't use IE I won't
resort to hoping the corporations who want to build IE plugins to stay
competitive to be my sources for features.

Sure the argument can be "why use plugins, the browser should do what you
want" but that one dies rather quickly. MS is realizing why they are losing
market share. Once IE6 dies it's market share will drop even further. The only
reason why my company uses IE6 all over is because of some crappy old programs
that just work on IE6. So why the hell would they want to upgrade? They don't
even use those for regular internet browsing.

Now a direct critique to the claim that IE8 loads faster. How can something
that has an over 100 meg memory footprint to just start up (last numbers I
have) start faster than something with just a few megs unless it is pre-
fetched by windows vista on startup, in which case this is not a fair
comparison, thats more like cheating.

