MIX08 in Las Vegas

Once again, Microsoft’s MIX conference has descended on The Venetian in Las Vegas, because apparently the natural habitat for web standards is a vast casino complex filled with fake canals, artificial skies and people making catastrophically optimistic financial decisions.

One of the more interesting announcements so far is the release of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. Considering the geological period that seemed to pass between IE6 and IE7, getting another version this quickly feels almost reckless.

The big news is that IE8 runs in standards mode by default. Yes, really. Microsoft changed its mind on this only a few days ago, performing the sort of abrupt 180-degree turn normally associated with politicians, frightened taxi drivers and people who suddenly realize they’ve entered the wrong club.

The CSS implementation has apparently received some long-overdue affection, with the goal of supporting CSS 2.1 along with a few shiny pieces of CSS3. For web developers accustomed to negotiating with Internet Explorer like hostage negotiators dealing with an unstable gunman, this is encouraging stuff.

The beta also includes its own debugging tools, clearly inspired by Firebug, the Firefox extension that had already become indispensable to anyone trying to understand why their perfectly reasonable CSS had decided to behave like a drunken ferret.

Indoor plaza at The Venetian.

My colleague Roger has already found a few problems, but this is Beta 1, and Microsoft readily admits that its CSS 2.1 implementation isn’t finished yet. Bugs are therefore not exactly shocking. At this stage, finding everything working perfectly would probably be more disturbing.

What is surprising is how quickly IE8 has appeared. Combined with Microsoft’s now-infamous U-turn on standards mode, there are faint signs that Internet Explorer might actually be heading in the right direction. I realize how dangerous it is to write that sentence, but here in Las Vegas, people make much bigger bets on much worse odds.