A new release of Internet Explorer 8 is available ahead of the Release Candidate Build. Back in mid-November 2008, Dean Hachamovitch, general manager, Internet Explorer, revealed that Microsoft was moving forward with the development process of IE8 straight from Beta stage to RC. At that time, Hachamovitch failed to mention any interim development milestones for the successor of Internet Explorer 7, but of course the IE GM was referring exclusively to public releases of the browser. In this regard, just a week short of a month later, Microsoft produced the IE8 Partner Build.

“We are releasing the IE8 Partner Build to the IE8 Technical Beta for you to help us test and find issues. This build represents a preview of our progress, and is best used to verify issues fixed since releasing Beta 2. While we believe it to be of adequate quality for you to use, is not as extensively tested as a milestone build, so it is not meant for the general public but only for testing purposes,” Microsoft's note to testers reads, according to Mary Jo Foley.

The new release of Internet Explorer 8 comes with the following build number 8.0.6001.18343, and, in this regard, it supersedes IE8 Beta 2, which was numbered 8.0.6001.18241. However, IE8 Beta 8.0.6001.18343 is not available to general public as is the case with Beta 2. The latest development milestone has been offered exclusively to the “technical beta” participants in the IE8 “technical beta” and can be grabbed only through Microsoft Connect. Released on December 10, 2008, the new IE8 Partner Build (8.0.6001.18343) is already generating feedback.

Until this point in time Microsoft has not given any indication whether Internet Explorer 8 Beta Partner Build 8.0.6001.18343 will be made available to the public, but, given the context of the release, such a scenario is highly unlikely. The next public build of IE8 will be the Release Candidate bits, which are currently planned for early 2009.

For the time being, Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) Beta 2 is available for download here.