A Microsoft exec giving an update on development of Internet Explorer 8, says the product will ship in 2009. Microsoft had said the final version of the IE8 browser would ship by the end of 2008. Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer at Microsoft delivered the news.Although Microsoft had been saying as late as the summer that it
expected to release version 8 of Internet Explorer by the end of the
year, it looks like we will have to wait until 2009 to see it.
Indeed, according to published reports, Microsoft said IE8 would be available "later this year."
In a blog post on the IEBlog site, Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer, gave an update on the status of IE8, noting that Microsoft has been listening to feedback from users and is working to complete the technology.
Microsoft released IE8 beta 2 in August and, according to
Hachamovitch, "will release one more public update of IE8 in the first
quarter of 2009, and then follow that up with the final release. Our
next public release of IE (typically called a 'release candidate')
indicates the end of the beta period.
We want the technical community
of people and organizations interested in Web browsers to take this
update as a strong signal that IE8 is effectively complete and done.
They should expect the final product to behave as this update does.
We
want them to test their sites and services with IE8, make any changes
they feel are necessary for the best possible customer experience using
IE8, and report any critical issues (e.g., issues impacting robustness,
security, backwards compatibility, or completeness with respect to
planned standards work). Our plan is to deliver the final product after
listening for feedback about critical issues."
Read the rest of this article on eWEEK.com.
Online Media 
