IE8 Beta 2 Update

So I have now been able to install Beta 2 on my machine and I just wanted to give my thoughts on it so far.

Installation

This was a little bit of a problem for me and the Beta 2 package didn’t uninstall Beta 1 automatically for me on my Vista x64 machine.  It told me to uninstall the previous version and that restart the install.  So when I went to “Program and Features”, Internet Explorer wasn’t listed in any way there.  There was also no uninstall on the start menu.

I did however find it.  It was located under the “View installed updates” choice on the left side of the Programs and Features window.  After I uninstalled that and rebooted, Beta 2 installed just fine.

Usage

I love the new changes to IE.  I didn’t think there was that much new to be added to a web browser, but I think everything I have seen so far makes sense and is very useful.  The WebSlices have been mentioned here before and I think they fill and great need especially around getting updates on things like auctions.

The Accelerators are also very cool.  Allowing you to look up words, find an address on a map, and many other things very easily.  I think there will be a lot of great additional Accelerators created and we will see the web expand in a totally new way.

The other two new things that I like a lot are the Suggested Sites feature and the auto-complete additions.  The Suggested Sites feature is really cool in that it will give you other sites around the web that are like the site you are currently on.  I think it has a lot of possibility for really enabling you to find other information along a specific topic.  The auto-complete features are very useful when you are typing in a URL and maybe aren’t sure about the exact path.

As with any new product updates, I think these things are best to be tried out for yourself.  Feel free to post your comments here as I’d like to hear what others think.