It’s out–Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft’s first major browser update since August 2006. It comes with some clever features and some that are catch-up to Maxthon and Firefox. Here’s a screen shot:

“Accelerators” are displayed by highlighting text and clicking on a the blue icon that appears. The Accelerators let you use what you’ve highlighted to create a map, do a Google or Wikipedia search, or other tasks users dream up.

I.E. 8 tries to do drop-down lists in the address bar one better by displaying previews of possible searches for whatever a user types into the address field.

A toolbar button presents a list of the latest headlines.

Users can add “Web slices” that keep refreshing frequently changing sites, such as eBay auctions or stock prices.

For the first time in IE, related tabs are kept next to each other and share a common color.

For better privacy, Microsoft has added a mode for Web browsing that doesn’t remember what sites were visited and doesn’t store cookies. IE 8 lets people block ads from companies that track their Web surfing habits across a number of sites, a practice known as behavioral targeting.

In a change that mimics Maxthon’s new Isolator technology, now crashing one tab in I.E. doesn’t necessarily mean all other tabs will also crash.

Internet Explorer has been notorious for not following the newest standards for how page code will be displayed. (Maxthon uses the same display engine as Microsoft.) IE8 follows the new standards more closely, but has a button to make it revert to the old way of displaying pages when that becomes necessary.

You can find out what I.E. 8 is like by downloading it at its home page.

Here are some initial reactions to I.E. with links to follow for more details:

PC Magazine
More than ever, Microsoft needs IE8 to succeed if it wants to maintain its dominant position. The browser adds some unique, convenient new ways to access Web resources, with Accelerators and WebSlices. Its color-coded tab system, improved address bar, and enhanced privacy protections are also noteworthy. Now that IE8 has shipped in its final form, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend any user to give it a spin, as I had no cases of sites not working in it, and it adds some security and web helper features that you won’t find anywhere else. Click here for complete story.

Infoworld
After evaluating Internet Explorer 8, the folks over at the exo.performance.network (the ones who brought you Windows Sentinel) are declaring it to be one seriously bloated piece of software. Not only is it “fatter” than IE 7, it’s also more resource-intensive. Click here for complete story.

Readwriteweb.com
The new browser showcases many new features and improvements, like Facebook and eBay integration, standards compliance, and the ability to work with AJAX web pages. What’s most notable about IE8, though, is more than a sum of its parts. If anything, this launch shows that Microsoft is not taking Firefox’s creep into browser market share lightly. Click here for complete story.

eWeek
For anyone currently using IE 7, IE 8 is a must-upgrade, as it improves greatly on that version and includes many features that improve the usability and the security of the Web browser. However, while IE 8 is a big improvement over previous versions of IE, it may not be enough to pull over users of other browsers.  Click here for c0mplete story.

PCWorld
This latest version of Microsoft’s browser leapfrogs its closest competition, Firefox 3, for basic browsing and productivity features — it has better tab handling, a niftier search bar, a more useful address bar, and new tools that deliver information directly from other Web pages and services. IE8 has also been tweaked for security and includes a so-called “porn mode,” new anti-malware protection, and better ways to protect your privacy. Click here for complete story.

We’re currently running tests of Internet Explorer 8 and we’ll have a report in a few days.

Don’t just surf the Web, seize it – with Maxthon!