IE8 Will Support Current Web Standards by Default (NewsFactor)

Microsoft said Monday that it will make the current Web standard for rendering browser content the default in Internet Explorer 8. As the Web has evolved, there have been different levels of support for Web standards and new forms of Web-site behavior. Unless a Web site provides specific instructions, a browser uses a default mode.

THREE MODES

IE8 will have three rendering modes. One supports the current implementation of Web standards, the second supports the implementation that existed as of IE7s release in 2006, and the third supports rendering modes back to the first days of the Web. Microsoft said the current implementation is more forward-looking and preferred by Web designers, while the others maintain compatibility with Web sites designed for previous versions of Internet Explorer.

Microsoft chief software architect Ray Ozzie said the original plan was to make the IE7 standard the default for IE8, but the company finally decided to opt for current Web standards.

"This is obviously a complex issue," he said. On one side, he added, there are "literally billions of Web pages designed to render on previous browser versions." On the other hand, Ozzie said, its beneficial to Web designers "if all vendors give priority to interoperability around commonly accepted standards as they evolve."

He added that Microsoft will work with content publishers to encourage them to update their Web sites during the IE8 beta period.

IGNORING STANDARDS CAN BE EXPENSIVE

Last month, the software giant issued a set of Interoperability Principles for data portability, support for industry standards, and other areas to open up its products. Ozzie said the IE8 decision is part of Microsofts commitment to those principles.

But theres another factor. Brad Smith, Microsofts general counsel, noted that, while there arent any legal requirements about which rendering mode must be the default, the company feels its decision "clearly removes this question as a potential legal and regulatory issue."

That issue can be expensive. Last week, the European Commission fined Microsoft $1.35 billion for not abiding by a previous antitrust settlement.

Brad Shimmin, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said the IE8 decision is a sign that the days of the Web browser as the key user interface are coming to an end. Web standards have to support legacy systems, he said, and that means cutting-edge innovation will happen elsewhere.

He cited Adobes Flex, AIR and Flash technologies, as well as Microsofts Silverlight, as the leading candidates for innovation. Even so, he expects the browser to remain the standard platform for sending data from the server to the client.