Internet Explorer 8 Passes Acid2 Test

Two weeks ago we learned that Internet Explorer's next version will be called IE8 and we were promised a lot more info soon.  Well, today Microsoft is announcing that Internet Explorer 8 has passed the Acid2 test.

The Acid2 test is a web test page setup by the Web Standards Project to allow vendors to ensure proper support of web standards. While this test is a targeted test of web standards and doesn't guarantee full compliance it is a test of the most requested aspects of the standards by developers, according to the site.

The timing for the disclosure of this information is obviously a bit suspicious as Opera has recently filed a complaint against Microsoft in the EU for failing to comply with web standards and for bundling the browser with the operating system. Opera's CEO added his biggest gripe was really the lack of standards compliance. I guess they threw the bundling in since they knew it was hot topic with the EU and they had precedence with it, given the track record with Windows Media Player.

This obviously is something the IE team has been working on for a long while and I congratulate them on this milestone.

Developers can expect to learn a lot more at MIX08 and for us non-web developers we should see a beta of IE8 in the first half of '08.

It does beg the question of whether Opera would have filed the complaint at all with the EU had Microsoft been more transparent about the progress it has been making with the browser.

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