Internet Explorer 8
| Internet Explorer 8 | |
|---|---|
Screenshot of Internet Explorer 8 | |
| Developer | Microsoft |
| Initial release | March 19, 2009 |
| Stable release | Service Pack 1 (8.00.7601.17514)
/ February 22, 2011 |
| Engine | MSHTML 4.0 |
| Operating system |
|
| Platform | cf. § system requirements |
| Included with | Windows 7 Windows Server 2008 R2 |
| Predecessor | Internet Explorer 7 (2006) |
| Successor | Internet Explorer 9 (2011) |
| Type | Web browser Aggregator FTP client |
| License | Proprietary, requires Windows license |
| Website | Internet Explorer 8 (archived at Wayback Machine) |
Internet Explorer 8 or IE8 (officially Windows Internet Explorer 8) is a major version of the Internet Explorer web browser for Windows released by Microsoft on March 19, 2009 and is the successor to Internet Explorer 7. It was the default browser on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
It is the first version of Internet Explorer to pass the Acid2 test, the last of the major browsers to do so. (In the later Acid3 Test, it only scores 24/100.) It is the last version of Internet Explorer to support Windows XP across all editions, Windows Vista RTM–SP1, and Windows Server 2008 RTM, as well as Itanium-based processors. Additionally, it introduced a Compatibility View mode to optionally emulate older versions' rendering behavior, and color-coded tab groups where links opened in new tabs share the color of the website they originated from. According to Microsoft, security, ease of use, and improvements in RSS, CSS, and Ajax support were its priorities for IE8.