Dublin-based web analytics firm StatCounter has announced that the end of November saw Google's Chrome 15 become the most popular browser version worldwide for the first time on a weekly basis. In the last full week of November, Chrome 15 managed to take 23.6% of the global browser market, inching in front of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 which had a 23.5% share. Better yet, for Google at least, in the first week of December Chrome 15 topped 24.55% while IE8 slipped to 22.16%.

These results don't change the big picture though, so Internet Explorer (with all its still working versions) continues to be the number one browser worldwide, while Chrome is on the second spot. Chrome 15's performance is certainly noteworthy but it should be short-lived since Google this week released the stable 16.0.912.63 build and people are likely upgrading to it as we speak. It remains to be seen if Chrome 16 will get the browser crown like its predecessor.

Typically, a "beta" software item is that which is meant for evaluation, testing, or use not guaranteed by the developer of the software. If you happen to use Windows XP Service Pack 3, get ready for this: once installed over an existing older version (beta 1), Internet Explorer (IE) 8 beta 2 cannot be uninstalled, much in the same way you cannot uninstall Internet Explorer 7 on the said operating system. Only a system restoration or re-installation (if you have System Restore disabled) can fix it. What's more, Microsoft displays IE 8 beta 2 like it's the "current version" of the browser and IE 7 (final release, stable version) as a "previous version". If you happened to have IE 8 beta 1, and updated from Service Pack 2 to 3, uninstall beta 1 before "trying out" beta 2, as listed on the IEBlog at MSDN. You will be shown a confirmation dialog box before its installation:

If you chose to continue, Windows XP SP3 and IE8 Beta2 will become permanent. You will still be able to upgrade to later IE8 builds as they become available, but you won't be able to uninstall them.

To avoid getting into this situation, we strongly encourage you to follow these steps before installing Internet Explorer Beta 2:

1. Uninstall Windows XP SP3
2. Uninstall IE8 Beta1
3. Re- install Windows XP SP3
4. Install IE8 Beta2

The latest beta of Microsoft's next web browser has been released today. This time it is a public beta, unlike Beta 1, which was aimed at developers, this version has many of its new features enabled. Some of these include, tab groups, accelerators and compatibility view, which enables Internet Explorer 8 to better display web pages designed for older browers.

You can find out more information and download the beta here.

In a recent blog post Nick Mackechnie, Senior Technical Account Manager at Microsoft New Zealand, has revealed that the next public preview of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 will come in the third quarter of this year.

We are encouraging site administrators to get their sites ready now for broad adoption of Internet Explorer 8, as there will be a beta release in the third quarter of this year targeted for all consumers.

he wrote two days ago. The second beta for IE8 will render web pages in "standards-compliant" mode by default. Also, the IE 8 Beta 2 build will come as a public beta targeted at all consumers. To learn more, please follow this link.

Coming as a big surprise for me, the first public beta of IE8 was published by Microsoft this morning. Internet Explorer 8 can now be installed from virtually anyone on both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Vista, Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2). Download the apropriate version from here. See also the release notes for Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1.

Aiming to demonstrate that its commitment to interoperability Microsoft said Monday that it is shifting its plans for the next version of Internet Explorer to make the program more friendly to Web standards. The software maker said that a planned standards compatibility mode will now be the default rendering engine when IE8 makes its debut. Now IE will finally be able to render the Acid2 browser test correctly. "We think that acting in accordance with principles is important, and IE8's default is a demonstration of the interoperability principles in action," IE general manager Dean Hachamovitch said in a blog posting. With IE8, Microsoft plans to have three rendering modes: the new standards-compliant mode, the IE7 rendering engine, as well as an option for displaying older Web sites. Because of the default shift, Web sites that want IE8 to use its IE7 engine will have to add a tag to their site's code. Microsoft hasn't said when the final version will be out, but a beta version of the browser is due out in the first half of the year.