ReadWriteWeb

After more than a year of beta testing, Microsoft released version 8 of Internet Explorer today. IE8 is definitely a better browser than IE7, and features quite a few important new functions, including accelerators, and web slices. IE8 is also significantly faster than IE7 and features a large number of new functions that make browsing the web easier and more secure. IE8 is an important upgrade for those users who are still using IE7, but we don't think that it offers enough compelling reasons for users of other browsers to switch back to Internet Explorer.

Microsoft today announced the first (and probably only) release candidate of Internet Explorer 8. In terms of its look and feel, IE8 feels a lot like IE7, though Microsoft has made a lot of changes under the hood. IE8 features a new rendering engine, support for CSS 2.1, and a 'smart address bar' that is very similar to Firefox's 'awesome bar.' IE8 has also taken a page from Chrome's playbook and now opens a separate process for every tab. This means that IE8 won't crash outright just because of problems with one tab.

While separate search boxes have long been a standard feature of every major browser (except for Chrome), their functionality and intelligence has not gone much beyond autocompleting searches. Yahoo is trying to change this with its Inqisitor plugin for Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. This plugin not only autocompletes your searches, but can also directly display the results of your search as you type, which can potentially safe you quite a few clicks.

Imagine waking up and your site is inaccessible for no apparent reason. If this happens, site owners could spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out what the problem is. Well welcome to that reality. Thousands of site owners have experienced this today after Sitemeter brings their sites to a halt.

Full disclosure: Alex Iskold runs a browser add-on company called AdaptiveBlue. Also Fred Wilson, who is cited in this article, is a partner in Union Square Ventures - an investor in Alex's company.

VC Fred Wilson asked recently on his blog if there is a business in browser add-ons? I have a vested interest, since my company is in the add-on business. Adding a bit of functionality to your browser can be fun and customization makes software more personal, yet there are issues such as privacy, performance, and the inability of mainstream consumers to manage add-ons.

Last month when we reported that MySpace controls 3/4th of social network traffic one commenter, Jon Gos, wrote, "As Google or Microsoft will tell you, once you're king of the hill in one area, it's incredibly hard to get displaced. Unless of course you make some royal mistakes like Friendster did, whoever's got the momentum usually sets the pace and right now MySpace still controls the game."

Indeed, MySpace's market share was virtually unchanged since January, and has long been over 70%. But there is one battle between dominant incumbent and fiery upstart in which the incumbent looks more vulnerable each day: Internet Explorer vs. Firefox.