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A limited number of "qualified beta testers" have been invited to download the new version of Microsoft's web browser, which promises to be its most standards-compliant to date.

Precisely what the new browser will offer remains a secret, but Microsoft has revealed that it passes Acid 2, the de facto industry test for standards compliance.

It

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also contains a new mechanism for rendering websites that have been written to work properly in Internet Explorer 6, which by Microsoft's own admission was far from standards compliant.

Otherwise, all Microsoft is saying is IE 8 will introduce a new user-agent identifier, MSIE 8.0, which tells websites what browser is being used.

While most websites ignore this, some that require higher levels of security use it to control which browsers may be permitted to access the site.

Microsoft notes that such sites will need to be updated to accommodate IE 8.

The first public showing of Internet Explorer 8 is scheduled for Microsoft's MIX conference, which is held from the 5 to 7 March.