I thought this might have been just a personal reaction. When the story crossed the news services that Microsoft was close to launching the beta of Internet Explorer 8, my initial response was “oh no”. It was far from a reaction of glee. I was curious whether this was just a conditioned response on my part. So, what followed was an informal ‘focus group’ of everyone I could find in twenty five minutes. They were informed of the following:

“Microsoft will shortly make available the test version of Internet Explorer 8, which is set for final release in the first half of this year.”

link: Microsoft to launch beta of Internet Explorer 8

The “oh no” response seems universal, at least in this building. Some expressed it in much stronger terminology. Let’s just summarize by saying that the new version is not eagerly anticipated. Perhaps, before trying Internet Explorer 8, it would be prudent to review methods to back-up the data.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster