14 DAY TRIAL // Internet Explorer 8 is a product under development. Microsoft is currently dogfooding alpha versions of the browser but no additional details have been made available from the Redmond company. By contrast, both Mozilla and Apple feature more opened development models with Firefox 3.0, not up to Gran Paradiso Alpha 6, and Safari 3. And while rival browsers from Apple and Mozilla are scheduled to be made available by the end of 2007, Safari 3 in October and Firefox 3.0 in November, speculations reveal that Microsoft plans to deliver the first beta for IE8 this year.
The anticipation of IE8 is building up, and screenshots alleging to be taken from the alpha version of the browser have apparently leaked on the Internet. The images integrated at the bottom of this article, courtesy of LanEros via bink.nu, have to be taken with a grain of salt. "The user interface blends well with Windows Vista and it resembles Office 2007; according to rumors, this version will be released together with W Vista SP 1. Here are some images that I've seen on Internet," reads a message posted on the LanEros forum.
Believing that the screenshots are the real deal is a stretch of the imagination, by any standards. What you are looking at is a combination between the current graphical user interface of Internet Explorer 7 (the tabs) and the Ribbon from the Office 2007 System. The images feature a healthy level of Photoshop skill, but there are little details that point out the fact that they are fakes, as for example, the Channel 9 Coffehouse reference at the top of every image. The text corresponds to the title of the webpage the browser is on. And yet the only opened pages point to Google. But while the screenshots are indeed fakes, they offer an interesting view on what the GUI of IE8 would look like with the Ribbon from the Office 2007 System.
