Microsoft just released a new version of its IE8 web browser today, but it's only available to people who were accepted into its Partner program (ahem... like me).

I finally got the old one uninstalled and the new one installed.  In the "About" box it calls this version a "Release Candidate", so that is a very good sign that all the features are basically finished.

I'll tell you this:  they really did a nice job improving the speed.  Pages are loading much, much quicker.  Everything is "snappier". 

This is good news, because a good Internet Explorer is a good thing for everyone!

The ONE thing I have found that doesn't work properly is a real headache for me.  The Rich Text Editor in Lottery Post shows the wrong default font.

I have confirmed that it is a bug, because the same thig happens on the sample pages of the company that builds the editor, so it's not something unique to LP.

However, even though the font looks wrong when I'm typing, when I submit the post (like when I submit this blog entry), the font will come out looking right.

I've submitted it as a bug, so I'm sure it will get fixed before release.

Overall, there are lots of tweaks I've noticed, but I haven't yet had a chance to fully explore.  If I find anything major I'll post another blog about it.

I'm just so pleased about performance — it's so much better!

But they still don't come close to the speed that Chrome, Firefox, or Safari is able to render things like dragging popup windows on the screen.