Tag: IE8
While laboring to produce the first Release Candidate of the next iteration of Windows, Microsoft is making available for download the Windows Demo Toolkit, an offering with Windows 7 as its nucleolus. Both the 32-bit and the 64-bit variants of the Foundation Suite (what the software giant referred to as the heart of the Windows Demo Toolkit) are up for grabs via Microsoft Connect, the Redmond company revealed. Via the two downloads packaged as ISO images, customers will be able to access preconfigured installations of Windows 7 Beta Build 7000. Microsoft informed that once Windows 7 Release Candidate would be made available, the Windows Demo Toolkit would be upgraded with the RC bits.
“Are you Gold Certified or Certified partner who wants a way to demo your software on Windows 7? If so, the brand new Windows Demo Toolkit (WDT) is a collection of resources that makes demoing the Windows operating system as easy as possible. You can use WDT to create engaging and reliable demos in a fraction of the time. WDT is available exclusively for Certified and Gold Certified Partners,” revealed Bruce Kyle, Microsoft ISV Architect Evangelist. “The heart of the Windows Demo Toolkit is the Foundation Suite, a deployment of Windows 7 Beta tailored specifically for use in demonstrations.” Read More»
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Concomitantly with the general availability of Internet Explorer 8 RTW, Microsoft also released to web the IE8 Language Packs. Fact is that the gold version of IE8 RTW is currently available for download in no less than 25 languages, but the software giant has taken it one step further. In addition to the fully localized languages of IE8, the Redmond company is also offering users worldwide the possibility to translate the graphical user interface of IE7’s successor.
“The Internet Explorer 8 Language Packs install language specific resource files, allowing users to view the user interface (UI) of Internet Explorer 8 in a different supported language,” Microsoft informed. Currently users of the following languages will be able to take advantage of the IE8 RTW Language Packs: Arabic, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Hong Kong), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish. Read More»
Posted in Internet, Windows Vista | No Comments »
At the end of the past week, Microsoft made available to the public the results of a “browser measuring contest” involving Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.05 and Google Chrome 1.0. What the Redmond company did was to measure the browser load times for the top 25 websites worldwide. In the software company’s own comparison, IE8 managed to come out on top of its rivals, besting the open source Firefox and Chrome which were released in 2008, and not the current 3.1/3.5 version of Firefox or the 2.0 flavor of Chrome. But the real question is does it matter?
Obviously, Microsoft is rather a new comer to the browser measuring game. Simply because Internet Explorer, while considered by rival browser makers a reference point, never actually needed to compare itself to competitive products, especially from the perspective of the dominant browser on the market. IE continues to account for the lion’s share when it comes down to browser usage share worldwide, but Firefox has made a dent in its dominance that is harder and harder to ignore. And fact is that for the first time in the long life of Internet Explorer, Microsoft has a release that it’s worth comparing, as it is bound to score at least on par with rivals, if not even best them in certain scenarios. Read More»
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February 13, 2009 by
Jason
As is the case with any pre-release version of its software products, Microsoft has kept a close eye on Internet Explorer 8, monitoring the feedback delivered by end users, and tweaking the browser in accordance. The Redmond company has not only fixed bugs, but also delivered new features and changed the browser’s behavior following user input. And the message from Microsoft is to keep the feedback coming. In January 2009, Internet Explorer 8 evolved to Release Candidate stage for Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 releases came to the table with a post-Beta 2 but pre-RC Build of IE8. However, Windows 7 versions from the Release Candidate branch, including Build 7022 and 7032 feature IE8 RC.
“Please, be aware that the Internet Explorer 8 version on Windows 7 Beta is older than Internet Explorer 8 RC 1. So if you have an issue that reproduces on IE8 on Windows 7 and not on IE8 RC 1 then the issue has been fixed, unless it is an issue in an IE feature specific to Windows 7, Read More»
Posted in Internet, Windows 7 | No Comments »
January 05, 2009 by
Jason
Since 2007, Microsoft has been offering free copies of Windows XP and Windows Vista for download, in order to make up for a handicap specific to the Windows client, namely the fact that two different versions of Internet Explorer cannot be installed and run simultaneously on the same operating system. While it is cooking the first Release Candidate build for Internet Explorer 8, the Redmond company is also supporting Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 6, a context in which it is a pain for developers to test their content on all versions of IE.
The situation has caused Microsoft to come up with the Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC images, a solution designed to circumvent the limitations of IE running on Windows via virtualization.
With the Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC images, Microsoft is offering developers no less than four free copies of Windows packaged as Virtual Hard Disk Images and designed to integrate with the company’s free virtualization offerings. The four VHD downloads feature a new release date, just ahead of the end of 2008, although the launched products are similar to those made available in August 2008, following the availability of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2. Read More»
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October 07, 2008 by
Jason
The evolution of IE from Internet Explorer 7 to Internet Explorer 8 spans from the graphical user interface on the surface of the browser to the underlying rendering engine. Among the various improvements delivered to Internet Explorer, enhancing AJAX in the browser is an illustrative example of Microsoft’s efforts to take its proprietary browser to the next level. In this regard, Sunava Dutta, IE Program Manager, revealed that the Redmond giant focused on improving AJAX for IE8, on top of what was made available with the Beta 1 release in March. The AJAX updates are already available as of the release of IE8 Beta 2.
“The good news is our team has been working since Beta 1 to tweak and update our implementations based on feedback from developers and ongoing updates to the W3C standards drafts on which most of these implementations are based or have been submitted for consideration. Not content with doing just that, we also added a few new features for developers. The AJAX updates we’ve chosen for Beta 2 focus on maintaining cross-browser compatibility and the feature sets that developers have thought would be the most useful,” Dutta explained. Read More»
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September 28, 2008 by
Jason
Just as Windows Vista moved away Windows XP by sacrificing compatibility, so will Internet Explorer 8 redefine the way Microsoft’s proprietary browser deals with legacy content. This because, by embracing modern web standards in the default configuration, IE8 will also introduce compatibility issues. However, Microsoft is providing the necessary resources designed to mitigate scenarios involving incompatible content. The Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT), now at version 5.0 with the Internet Explorer Compatibility Test Tool (IECTT) and Internet Explorer Compatibility Evaluators (IECE) components, is set up to evaluate the level at which an application will play nice with Windows Vista, Internet Explorer 7 and even Internet Explorer 8.
“ACT allows compatibility data to be uploaded from individual machines to a central location for analysis, grouping and reporting. Once an issue has been identified, help will be available on how to resolve a particular issue or create a workaround. Furthermore, partners and customers using ACT are able to post comments to the Online Application Community, where they can share data and information about application compatibility testing,” explained Jatinder Mann, IE Program Manager. Read More»
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September 21, 2008 by
Jason
Following the release of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 at the end of August 2008, Microsoft offered a toolset designed to permit advanced customization of the browser. Internet Explorer Administration Kit 8.0 Beta was dropped after the English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), and German localized versions of IE8. On September 16, the kit was updated to reflect the wave 2 of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 releases. Earlier this week Microsoft made available 21 new fully localized flavors of IE8 Beta 2, bringing the total number of language versions to 25.
“With the release of these additional languages, the IE8 IEAK can now build an additional 20 language packages. We’re excited to enable more users to download IE8 Beta 2 and use it in their native languages,” revealed Vishwac Sena Kannan, IE international program manager.
The September 16 release of Internet Explorer Administration Kit 8 Beta is tailored to the new span of IE8 Beta 2 language versions. The kit is designed to permit the customization of Microsoft’s latest iteration of the Internet Explorer browser. IEAK 8 Beta enables customized packages of IE8 Beta 2 to be put together, and this is valid for the many flavors of the browser. Read More»
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September 17, 2008 by
Jason
On September 16, the Redmond company went live with the second wave of IE8 Beta 2 releases, offering the browser in no less than 21 localized versions. The fresh IE8 Beta 2 releases covering 21 additional languages on top of the original four are supported only on the 32-bit versions of Windows Vista RTM and Service Pack 1, Windows XP SP2 and SP3 and Windows Server 2008.
“The IE team is pleased to announce the availability of Internet Explorer Beta 2 in 21 additional languages. The languages released today are fully localized versions of the IE8 English Beta 2. The Complete List of IE8 Beta 2 Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Hong Kong), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish,” explained Vishwac Sena Kannan, International Program Manager.
Microsoft is currently gearing up for the availability of the gold build of Internet Explorer 8. The Redmond giant has not confirmed a deadline, except to say that it expects to deliver the final IE8 two years after the general availability of Internet Explorer 7 considered by the company to be January 30, 2007, the Windows Vista launch day. Read More»
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