March 20, 2009 2:15PM  |
Microsoft’s final release of Internet Explorer 8 may not be so final as unhappy users flood IE8’s feedback pages with complaints. While Microsoft says it fixed problems found by Internet Explorer beta testers, the final release of IE8 isn’t giving users a good experience. One poster did like IE8 — and said it felt like competitor Firefox.
 Fresh out the door, users of Microsoft ‘s Internet Explorer 8 are complaining of glitches one day after the IE8 final build was made available at noon Eastern time on Thursday. Dozens of posters are complaining about printing from Web sites, search functions, and disappearing images.The browser, which was supposed to make navigating a Web site easier and faster by adding a new favorites bar, address bar, and tabs bar, is instead making the user experience not so easy. “I have just installed IE8 and still the search option doesn’t work; all I get is a blank line with no search box, so what and where is the problem?” asked Aviramof on Microsoft’s feedback discussion board.
A poster writing as Dexus said his toolbar, including all the File menu items, went completely black. And another poster wasn’t happy about a “dragging Facebook applications bug” that had not been fixed. Multiple users complained that they weren’t able to drag photos on their Facebook pages in IE8. A post by Bessler listed a few problems with the IE8 install. Bessler said the boot-up time doubled, the application used an additional 4GB of hard-drive space, and the calendar was outlined in violet. Kris Krueger, the test lead for IE8, said that Microsoft fixed many of the top issues identified by beta testers, and those issues were prioritized based on votes by the community. IE8 is currently available from Microsoft’s main download center as a manual download and on the IE8 page. Microsoft said it plans to begin automatically installing the new browser on machines running IE6 or IE7 in the future. Requests for information from Microsoft weren’t returned in time for publication. Losing, Then Gaining, Market Share Microsoft needed to get this release right, as the software giant’s browser was under scrutiny for losing market share. According to Net Applications, which tracks about 40,000 sites, Microsoft lost market share to other browsers, including Firefox. From February 2008 to January 2009, Internet Explorer’s market share declined more than six percent. The browser reached its lowest point in years in December 2008, at 68.15 percent of the market. But since Thursday’s release, Internet Explorer 8’s daily market share increased from 1.30 percent at noon to 1.84 percent at 2 p.m. Eastern on Friday. Not All Bad While there were dozens of complaints by 3 p.m. Eastern Thursday on Microsoft’s feedback page, not all were bad. “I am really surprised … I like IE8!” said a poster named Steve. “Of course it feels like Firefox, but hey, it is functional. Good work, MS.” |
