Microsoft has release Internet Explorer 8 beta 2 for the online world to download now. It’s a big day for Microsoft as this version of IE is a feature complete version. Nothing more in terms of features will be added to it before its complete release. While Microsoft still has market share lead over Mozilla’s Firefox 3, they still have to come up with the goods being that Firefox was released in its entirety months ahead of IE 8 beta 2 and that a record number of people have downloaded Mozilla's browser already.

In IE 8 beta 2 users will find an address bar that remembers where they have been before, and a mode called ‘InPrivate Browsing’ which ensures that no details (such as cookies and history) of where you have been on the net are recorded on the computer you are using. Great for people using public computer and tech savvy teens that love porn.

Whether this is enough to stop the Firefox rot is questionable. It's all about speed these days and  Internet Explorer has always lagged behind browsers like Firefox and Opera when it comes to the 100 metre dash, as gadget zone found out in these side by side tests. While they were done with IE 7, IE 8 is faster but not enough to beat Opera or Firefix yet.

IE 8 beta 2 is available now and can be downloaded here.