UPDATE: Internet Explorer 8 RTW is now available for download. Get ready to download the final version of Internet Explorer 8. According to Microsoft, the gold bits of IE8 will go live at noon EDT on March 19. It is not a coincidence that IE General Manager Dean Hachamovitch is scheduled to keynote on day two of the software giant's Internet-centric conference MIX09. More than a year ago, at the start of March 2008, Hachamovitch unveiled Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 at MIX08. Today, March 19, marks the availability of Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) RTW (release to web). Microsoft offered IE8 Beta 2 at the end of the past year, and Release Candidate 1 (RC1) in January 2009.

“Customers have made clear what they want in a Web browser — safety, speed and greater ease of use,” revealed Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. “With Internet Explorer 8, we are delivering a browser that gets people to the information they need, fast, and provides protection that no other browser can match.”

You have already been able to read right here on Softpedia that Internet Explorer 8 final will be made available at MIX09. Of course the gold bits of IE7's successor are not yet up for grabs. I will make sure to provide an update when IE8 will indeed be released for the public.

Internet Explorer 8 has nothing short of a tough job ahead. Microsoft is looking for IE8 to win back the installed base lost to rivals, especially Firefox. For the past years, Internet Explorer has been on a continuous downward trajectory, and has seen its usage share drop to under 70% of the market. At the same time, Mozilla's Firefox has been grabbing all the audience lost by IE climbing to over 20% of the browser market, according to Net Applications.

“Internet Explorer 8 will be available for download at noon EDT in 25 languages, including Arabic, Chinese (Traditional, Simplified and Hong Kong), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish,” Microsoft informed.

Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) Release Candidate 1 (RC1) (for now) is available for download here.

UPDATE: Internet Explorer 8 RTW is now available for download.