Breaking Up With IE8 is Hard To Do

By Greg McNevin

September 2, 2008: Released last week, Internet Explorer 8 beta 2 has been found to be quite clingy to Windows XP, with some Service Pack 3 users discovering that once installed, they’re stuck with both IE8 and XP SP3 for good.

Microsoft has warned of the issue in its official IE development blog, where it advises that before installing IE8 Beta 2, SP3 users manually uninstall IE8 Beta 1 first. If not, those that install IE8 Beta 1, then XP SP3, then upgrade to IE8 Beta 2 will be unable to remove both IE8 Beta 2 or XP SP3.

Microsoft program manager Jane Maliouta ran through the situation on the firm’s development blog, and said that those affected will be informed of the issue during installation by way of a warning dialog. “If you chose to continue, Windows XP SP3 and IE8 Beta 2 will become permanent,” writes Maliouta. “You will still be able to upgrade to later IE8 builds as they become available, but you won't be able to uninstall them.”

Beyond the installation issues, IE8 Beta 2 has been relatively well received so far, with many noticing speed improvements and its new private browsing mode piquing the interest of many.

Compatibility has also been OK so far, however, of the nine applications that have been formally recognised as incompatible the only two that actually cause locks ups and crashes are Microsofts. Namely Windows Live Mail and Visual Studio Net Version 7. No workarounds are currently available, but that said the software is still in the Beta stage and should not be used in critical situations.

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