But the beta for Internet Explorer 8 appeared only two years after its predecessor. It took five years for Internet Explorer 7 to hit the Web after the introduction of Internet Explorer 6. In January 2009, Microsoft offered consumers a release candidate version of the browser - one step closer to the final official build of Internet Explorer 8. It also lets the developers test the stability of their program before launch. This gives developers an opportunity to see which features become popular, which ones are ignored and which ones may need some tweaking before the final release. The purpose of a beta version is to allow people to test a product before its final build. Beta versions are unfinished builds of programs. That's why Microsoft released a beta version of Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8) in 2008. But you can't experience innovative features on the Web without a browser designed to handle everything the Web can offer. Today, Web sites may incorporate sophisticated elements such as Flash animation, video and customized markup languages. The earliest Web pages were static sites that featured a few images, some text and the occasional unwelcome MIDI file. The World Wide Web is constantly evolving.
