Microsoft has surprised watchers by saying that it will shortly make a first beta of Internet Explorer 8 generally available, according to a staffer at IT Week who wishes to remain anonymous.
In a mail-out to previous testers, Microsoft said it would make the pre-release code available to the "general public" but pointed out that it is "focused on the developer community". Microsoft had already stated in the past that the main advances in IE8 will focus on compliance with web standards, security and user interface options, something the web developer community feels that IE7 failed to live up to.
The company has long been the target of criticism for not following standards in its browser but, as numerous critics have noted, any effort to make IE standards compliant runs the risk of breaking existing sites written for earlier versions. Microsoft will attempt to compromise by offering developers the option to stay in or out of the web standards mode.
IE 8 is scheduled to be demonstrated for the first time in public at the MIX "08 conference in Las Vegas that starts on the 5 March.