There was a time when Microsoft Internet Explorer was almost the only browser, when Netscape was out of the market. At that time, it was very Microsoft oriented and developed to work better with other Microsoft applications, like Office, and also not so respectful to Web standards.

Now the situation is different and the Web is coming to an adolescence where Microsoft is not the lonely important player in the “browser wars". That means that Internet Explorer 8 is the most standards oriented browser released by Microsoft at this time. That is the main reason to change your IE 6 or 7 to the new one.

IE8 Web site offers many details and videos about new features.