After a lukewarm response to the Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft is already planning the next version of its flagship browser. Microsoft has announced that the beta version of the Internet Explorer 8 should be available early in 2008.

Internet Explorer 7 faced a myriad of problems after its release in October last year. The problem centered around a change implemented in the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) feature. However IE8 will not have similar problems as it has passed the Acid2 test to ensure it does not "break" the Web.

"Acid2 is one test of how modern browsers work with some specific features across several different Web standards," explained Dean Hachamovitch, IE Team general manager at Microsoft. "With respect to standards and interoperability, our goal in developing Internet Explorer 8 is to support the right set of standards with excellent implementations and do so without breaking the existing Web."

Acid2 is a test developed by advocacy group Web Standards Project. The main intention of the test is to see that the browser will be compatible with prevailing web standards like CSS and RSS.

Microsoft had hitherto not focused much on interoperability. The reason was that most developers were anxious to have their products compatible with the Internet Explorer. However the rising popularity of other browsers like Firefox and Safari have forced Redmond to wake up to the interoperability issue.

"Standards are a (critical) means to this end, and we focus on the standards that will help actual, real-world interoperability the most," Hachamovitch admitted. However Redmond has not announced any date for the full release of the IE8. Microsoft said this would depend on the feedback received for the various beta releases.