Hi All,

Internet Explorer 8 takes the web experience beyond the page and introduces a new way to seamlessly experience the best of the web whether you are a web developer writing to standards or an end-user discovering a new online service integrated into the browser. We’ve also taken steps to deliver the fastest version of Internet Explorer available, making it easy to launch quickly, find what you want efficiently, and navigate seamlessly.

Consistent with our efforts to promote further interoperability across the Web, Microsoft will be releasing Internet Explorer 8 to render content in its most standards-compliant way by default.  Giving top priority to Web standards interoperability allows us to help web developers and designers drive toward the ideal of “write once, run anywhere”, freeing up more time to innovate rather than modify content for different browsers.  This commitment also addresses several development and design pain points from previous Internet Explorer releases.

However, browsing with this default setting may cause content written for previous versions of Internet Explorer to display differently than intended.  This creates a call to action for site owners to ensure their content will continue to display seamlessly in Internet Explorer 8.  As such, we have provided a meta-tag usable on a per-page or per-site level to maintain compatibility for sites designed for Internet Explorer 7.  Adding this tag instructs Internet Explorer 8 to render content like Internet Explorer 7, without requiring any additional changes.

We are encouraging site administrators to get their sites ready now for broad adoption of Internet Explorer 8, as there will be a beta release in the third quarter of this year targeted for all consumers.  To learn more and get started, please follow the step-by-step instructions located at the following link:  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=120024.

Nick.