14 DAY TRIAL // Are you wondering why it will take Microsoft two years to develop Internet Explorer 8? Because by the most optimistic timetable presented by the Redmond company, IE8 will be made available either in late 2008 or early 2009, considering that IE7 was launched on 18 October 2006. Well, the answer is simple. With IE8, Microsoft is trying, no more and no less than to create order out of chaos. Apparently, this laborious process will take no less than two years.
"Do you like to create order out of Chaos?" reads a question posted in the job details for the position of Software Development Engineer for Internet Explorer since the end of May 2007. "Does the idea of simplifying the work of keeping millions of desktops secure on the web sound like a worthy challenge? Would you like to make thousands of system administrators more productive while making their lives easier? If you're up to it, we have a challenge for you: simplify and streamline the IT Pro's and user's experience administering Internet Explorer on the desktop. Make it easy for administrators to keep users secure while allowing users easy access to the features they need."
By the time Internet Explorer 8.0 will be made available, the browser market will be a tad different. Mozilla is scheduled to release Firefox 3.0 in November 2007. This date will most probably slip, as Gran Paradiso is yet to be released in the Alpha 6 stage, not to mention the first beta. But still, Mozilla could make it with the final launch by the end of 2007. Additionally, there are chances that even Firefox 4.0 would beat IE8 to the market.
By late 2008, IE8 will no longer have any competition from Firefox 1.5 and Firefox 2.0, as Mozilla will kill both versions of the open source browsers by then. But a new rival will erode IE's dominance, Safari browser for Windows. And by the time IE8 hits, it will be clear whether Safari will be either a success or a flop like IE5 on Mac.
"The Internet Explorer team is looking for a strong developer to work on our Foundations Deployment team. The Deployment team is responsible for making it easy for both home and enterprise users to adopt, install, configure, trust and use Internet Explorer as their browser of choice. Your work will touch millions of lives daily, so quality is critically important. (...) However, at the end of the day, you'll have the rewards of a job well done, and the satisfaction of knowing that millions of users will be positively touched by your work on a daily basis," reads another fragment of the job description.