Internet Explorer 8 beta does not like Vista SP1
Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 8 beta 1 to the masses. My intention was to take a look at the new features and write a review of this early version but that became an impossible task. Internet Explorer 8 beta has got to be the worst beta software ever released by any company.
Maybe it’s my system; which consists of a Vista Home Premium installation with SP1 installed. Other specs include a Phenom 9600 quad-core processor, Radeon HD3850 and 3GB of memory. Maybe it’s something in my configuration. Whatever it is, it causes IE8 beta to crash on a continuous basis. Of the five times I tried to load it, it worked once but refused to load any website and crashed whenever I clicked one of its new features.
The crash report claims that one of my HP drivers and/or dll files is causing the malfunction. Maybe, maybe not, I can’t be sure but I kind of need my printer to work. Then again, it could be a problem with SP1 itself; which I’m going to keep despite how much “better” IE8 might be.
I was going to share some screenshots of this but I couldn’t do that either. Because of the tight integration between IE8 and Windows Explorer, upgrading to IE8 also caused Windows Explorer to crash on a regular basis. Way to go Microsoft.
Microsoft’s betas are more like alpha development software from other companies but it has released successful betas in the past. I point you towards OneCare Live, the betas of IE7 and Windows Defender; all of which mostly worked during the early betas.
If my experience with IE8 beta 1 is any indication, it’s to be avoided until the final version. I’m not really surprised though, this is about what I would expect of a beta browser from Microsoft. Too bad, I can’t even tear it to shreds properly because it doesn’t work; that’ll have to do.
When/if I get it working, I’ll try to review it properly but it doesn’t look promising. For those interested, IE8 beta 1 is available from Microsoft for all current versions of XP, Server and Vista. Don’t go installing it on a critical machine because it may cause problems.
It can be uninstalled and I had no choice but to do so; just stick with Firefox, Flock or Opera for now.
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March 6th, 2008
I loaded up IE8Beta1 last night on my Tablet PC (Toshiba M400 – 1.5GB memory) running Vista Ultimate SP1. No problems at all. Worked like a dream. It may be my imagination, but I’d swear it was actually faster at rendering pages than IE7 on the same machine.
Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience.
Mark.
March 6th, 2008
I loaded it on vista home premium sp1 (dell 1720) and have had no problems so far. It has good developer tools with it.
March 6th, 2008
works ok here with vista x64 sp1. there are some anomalies, but it works. and i do not have any hp drivers installed.
March 7th, 2008
Too much golden screwdriver makes monkeys of men…ms101
The actual beta is the final version. The rest are alphas, so get ready for Vista sp1 beta too.
March 7th, 2008
my copy works better than IE7, no crashes or complaints here, however i uninstalled sp1 before i loaded the IE8. i give MS a pat on the back for a change.
March 7th, 2008
I cannot install it on a vostro 1700 laptop with a vista business sp1.
the instalation does not support your operating system …
So, still Opera browser
March 7th, 2008
WOW I am realy sorry IE8 isn’t working. I installed IE8 for Windows Xp pro 32 bit and it seems to work flawlessly. Not to be negative, I used Vista Ultimate 32 bit for a year before ‘upgrading’ back to XP pro. I was tired of the crashes, freezes and lack of driver support, slowness and slugishness of Vista. The OS seems to be a memory hog. Anyway hope that gets better.
March 7th, 2008
WOW I am realy sorry IE8 isn’t working. I installed IE8 for Windows Xp pro 32 bit and it seems to work flawlessly. Not to be negative, I used Vista Ultimate 32 bit for a year before ‘upgrading’ back to XP pro. I was tired of the crashes, freezes and lack of driver support, slowness and slugishness of Vista. The OS seems to be a memory hog. Anyway hope that gets better.
March 8th, 2008
I just installed it and the installer did not mention you needed to be online to complete. So, did the update after.
But on 1st re-boot my AVG free came up with a *Virus* warning that Trojan horse Agent.OBH had been found in Movavi VideoSuite 4.4 – VideoCaptureVM.exe – 1.94 MB and I had to move that to the vault. (Or lose it forever) Have query in with AVG.
Next my Gadgets loaded in JUMBO size ….
http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/2319/gadgetsbigafterie8zi7.jpg
Removing and replacing them did nothing. Re-booting the PC did nothing.
I will have to uninstall IE8 and hope they return to normal!
Program itself is better that IE7, but after such a long time, you would expect it to be. But I’ve been away to long with Firefox (Minefield builds) that it’s hard when you have no favorites/bookmarks available. You can import from Firefox 2 and Opera. Unfortunately, as I said, I’m using Minefield (Firefox) 3 beta5 pre and there’s no path to that…
Rendering of the small sample of sites I went to provided mixed results, the default of the browser is now suppose to be standards certified. However there is an emulate IE7 button, but, you have to close all windows and re-start IE8 to emulate IE7 (Major pain in the A).
So, MSIE trying to introduce it’s own standards, and being so dominant for so long, has caused web developers to code for it, and now they’re up shit creek without a paddle.
Not compelling enough for me to change, I don’t think …
March 9th, 2008
“Too bad, I can’t even tear it to shreds properly because it doesn’t work; that’ll have to do.”
Obviously you had already made up your mind before installing it that you wouldn’t like it.
If you are running software (SP1) which hasn’t yet been officially released (due to 3p driver issues), and trying Beta TEST software at the same time then why are you surprised to see that driver issues are being reported? Duh…
March 9th, 2008
this is such a mac fanboy site… or at least anti-microsoft. It’s beta software, if anyone else like google or apple had released it, you would be saying something like “o I bet they’re going to add this” or simply pleasing a false reality. The difference with IE8 is rendering. Dropping backwards compatibility is the best thing companies like mozzila and microsoft can do for us now, the interent is too unorganized and needs someone to manage it. I do however believe that the IE 8 beta was prematurely released for the MIX08 event. Beta is different than release canidate.
March 10th, 2008
“it has released successful betas in the past. I point you towards … the betas of IE7 and Windows Defender; all of which mostly worked during the early betas.”
Then
“If my experience with IE8 beta 1 is any indication, it’s to be avoided until the final version. I’m not really surprised though, this is about what I would expect of a beta browser from Microsoft.”
So even though you say the last browser beta was mostly reliable, you have a preconceived idea that they would do a particularly bad job with beta browsers. One wonders what brings up that notion…
March 10th, 2008
Uhm… it is beta software. Beta software isn’t supposed to work flawlessly. It is often released to detect bugs and get a response from the community.
While it is certainly fair to get impressions from beta software, I don’t think you should be “tearing it to shreds” until after it has been released in its final form. While I am all for dogging on Microsoft, it’s not fair to pile on until the code goes Gold.
On a second note, please expand your journalistic coverage to topics other than, “Vista Sucks.” 3/4 articles on this site are some variant of “Vista has problems.” This is well known. I actually enjoy the articles which explore programs, features or (gasp) news.
March 18th, 2008
I finally got IE8 to work on my 120DPI screen and your website looks horrific, all the images are dithered really badly, the tech mac gamer tabs are misaligned with the logo, when I click into the text edit area it doesn’t move the cursor to where I clicked and if I select text and try to type over it, the insert point appears to jump to somewhere random.
May 11th, 2008
I’m running vista business sp1 and i’ve had no luck either, just says “the instalation does not support your operating system …”.
Quite a shame as i was looking forward to taking a peek at it. if you have enough ram and a decent enough processor you can try loading it in virtual pc on an xp copy and seeing what you get then.
May 19th, 2008
I install IE8 on my Vista Home Premium 32-bit.
It function
BUT…
I cannot click the Red button to EXIT.
August 30th, 2008
IE8 beta 2 32 bit crashes after 2 seconds windowed on my Vista Home 64. It did it before SP1, and continures to crash after installing SP1. The 64 bit IE8 works fine, but I can’t view anything with FLASH content! I have to use FireFox and have never had any issues with it–go figure, my OS is Microsoft, but they can’t seem to get a IE browser working properly. I had flash issues with IE7 and the game continues.
August 30th, 2008
IE8 beta 2 32 bit crashes after 2 seconds windowed on my Vista Home 64. It did it before SP1, and continures to crash after installing SP1. The 64 bit IE8 works fine, but I can’t view anything with FLASH content! I have to use FireFox and have never had any issues with it–go figure, my OS is Microsoft, but they can’t seem to get an IE browser working properly. I had flash issues with IE7 and the game continues.