IE8 release candidate to drop soon?

Microsoft has suggested that the Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) release candidate is set to arrive very soon in a post in its own blog.

User experience programme manager Frank Olivier wrote in the official IE blog that the release candidate was about to be released.

Apparently, the second beta of IE8 doesn't display the new White House website correctly in the Windows 7 Beta. "This is because the version of IE8 in Windows 7 Beta is somewhat older than the Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate (IE8 RC1) that we're about to release for Windows Vista and Windows XP," wrote Olivier.

"Due to the different release schedules for Windows 7 Beta and IE8 RC1, some of these bug fixes didn't make it into Windows 7 Beta," he continued. So, if you want to use the latest version of IE8 you'll want to install IE8 RC1 for Windows Vista or Windows XP."

When exactly we'll all be able to use the latest version was not made clear, but unsubstantiated online reports suggest it could be as soon as 26 January. Microsoft is yet to respond to request for comment.