In recent times, Microsoft’s ubiquitous Internet Explorer has fallen behind.
Even with it being the default browser shipped on most of the world’s computers, Internet Explorer was losing ground to Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple’s Safari, and even Google’s Chrome.
The reason for IE’s slip was simple, and that’s because it was lagging behind the competition. Microsoft set out to bring back IE with a vengeance, and today’s the day of the official release of Internet Explorer 8.
"Customers have made clear what they want in a Web browser -- safety, speed and greater ease of use," said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. "With Internet Explorer 8, we are delivering a browser that gets people to the information they need, fast, and provides protection that no other browser can match."
Early feedback from users of the IE8 beta and RC, as well as Windows 7 testers, is positive. Being that security is one of the top concerns amongst internet users, Microsoft boasts that a study released today by NSS Labs indicates that Internet Explorer 8 blocks two to four times as many malicious sites as other browsers on the market today.
Microsoft is pushing that its browser now among the fastest, saying that IE8 will beat top browsers in page load time on almost 50 percent of the 25 top comScore web sites. See a chart with speed comparisons here.
Internet Explorer 8 will be available for download here at noon EDT.
