IE 8 Beta 2 Ready For Download

As of late yesterday, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 is available for beta download to anyone who’d like to try it. The full Internet Explorer 8 version is due out this November, according to several reports.

So what’s new with Internet Explorer 8 and how does it compare to the much talked about Firefox 3 (which broke world download records)? According to ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, “InPrivate browsing (”porn mode”) and InPrivate blocking are just two of the many new items that got added to the latest IE beta. Others include crash recovery, a “Diagnose Connection Problem” button, and Compatibility View.” ZDNet offers a great list of IE 8 features here.

Microsoft’s team has incorporated a “reach beyond the page” technology into this newest browser with features/technology such as accelerators, web slices, suggested site offerings and visual search. Most browser analysts tend to agree that users are increasingly wanting a better browsing experience to mash up content and web sites.

Firefox 3 has hurridely been trying to catch up to Microsoft’s IE and analysts predict this could be a very close race in regards to browser preference. Time will tell if IE’s 8 is successful. For a great comparison between the two brosers, make sure you check out CNet’s “IE 8 vs Firefox 3” article.