Internet Explorer 8

Internet Explorer 8 is the eighth version of Internet Explorer that was introduced with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and available as an upgrade for Windows XP with at least Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition together with Service Pack 2, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. It is the last version of Internet Explorer that is officially compatible with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

Internet Explorer 8.0 added a slight increase of focus towards web standards and was capable of passing the Acid2 test. While not as compliant as Firefox, Opera, or Safari, upon release it was a slight improvement. A compatibility view feature was introduced to emulate the old IE 7 behavior. Compatibility view lists could be downloaded automatically from Microsoft. It also includes suggested websites and displays bookmarks in its own section in the taskbar instead of next to the tabs.

This is the last IA-64 version of Internet Explorer, though it is only available as pre-installed in the IA-64 edition of Windows Server 2008 R2. It was not available for earlier IA-64 based versions of Windows.

Builds

 * 8.0.6001.17184 is the Beta 1 build.
 * 8.0.6001.18241 is the Beta 2 build.
 * 8.0.6001.18343 is the Partner Build (Pre RC) build.
 * 8.0.6001.18372 is the Release Candidate 1 build.
 * 8.0.6001.18702 is the RTM build for Windows XP/Vista and Server 2003/2008.
 * 8.0.7600.16385 is the RTM build for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2.
 * 8.0.7601.17514 is the Service Pack 1 build.