This Microsoft Subnet blog has noted recently that IE8 is destined to be an “optional” feature in Windows 7 – but then there’s the bloggy speculation that IE8 might actually even be the last version of Internet Explorer ever.
The rumor triggered shouts of glee from certain corners of the Web, as many people would like to see IE go.
Microsoft has not confirmed this, and no one expects the company to get out of the browser business. All of the speculation is around what will be the replacement. Would it use WebKit as the rendering engine? Would it use “Gazelle,” its experimental browser technology, to be the successor to IE8, something the company has denied?
And if Microsoft moves to some other rendering engine, what about the legacy support?
Are you sick of all the questions yet?
– Jeff Caruso
