CompetitiveBrowserDevelopment

Internet Explorer

Web Browser: IE
Version: 8.0
Release Date: 2008/2009; expected to be able to release new versions of IE every 12 to 18 months, but Wilson said an every-two-year schedule was looking more likely.
Direction: standards compliance
Emphasis: security, layout, CSS 2.1, increased compliane w/ Object Model, allow more flexible programming patterns; more client-side APIs for Ajax (like local storage and mashup security model)
Features:
Challenges: compatibility vs. standards-compliance connundrum which Microsoft has wrestling with its current and future IE releases. With a half-billion IE users out there, Microsoft takes its responsibility seriously to not break sites without solid reasons, Wilson told attendees

Notes:

require Web site authors to "opt-in" to standards mode when developing IE 8.0 sites.
more standards-complaint
- authors then have to take responsibility for breaking pages.
investing across layout, object model and Ajax development fronts
- making IE 8.0 more compliant with CSS 2.1 layout standards
- working to make the IE 8.0 object model more interoperable with that used by other browsers
- provide more client-side application programming interfaces (APIs) to support local storage for mash-ups
allow developers to more easily add extensions to its browser,
invest heavily in advancing its Web development toolbar with the next version of IE.
continues to see security as its No. 1 challenge with IE 8.0.

Possible Features:

Online/Offline RSS Feeds and Reader
Improved Bookmark Management
"Locking" a page to prevent users from accidentally navigating away from it
Adding a "Find on Page" capability
Improving username/password management
Restoring the "Image Toolbar" provided in earlier IE 7 test builds
Changing the download mechanism, perhaps eliminating the initial download to the "temporary Internet files" folder
Adding easily editable config files (similar to Firefox's userChrome.css and UserContent.css)
Enabling draggable tabs from one IE window to another
Configuring tabs so that each has its own private cookie cache
Introducing new status bar info, possibly with fields such as "last accessed by user" and "window last updated"
Enabling add-ons, such as stocks, movies, etc., a la Firefox