Today we’re excited to release the final build of Internet Explorer 8 in 25 languages. IE8 makes what real people do on the web every day faster, easier, and safer. Anyone running Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server can get 32- and 64-bit versions now from http://www.microsoft.com/ie8. (Windows 7 users will receive an updated IE8 as part of the next Windows 7 milestone.)

We’ve blogged a lot here about what’s in IE8. Stepping back from individual features, Internet Explorer is focused on how real people use the Web. We designed the product experience based on real-world data from tens of millions of user sessions. We worked closely with developers and standards groups to deliver a far better platform for the people who build the web. We cooperated closely with the security community to address the real threats that users face on the web, and keep users in control of their browsing and information. The resulting product takes a “batteries included,” just works out of the box approach to delivering the next browser for how hundreds of millions of people really use the web. We think it will surprise people who haven’t looked closely at IE in a while. Perhaps it’s time to re-think conventional wisdom about IE.

Today at the MIX conference, we showed IE8’s technology and design in the context of what real people do all the time on the web:

Get where you want to go faster with real world performance. The core activity in the browser is navigating to a website. IE8 makes that faster and easier with its new address bar, new tab experience, favorites bar, and history in search box. IE8 is faster than IE7, and favorable to today’s other browsers on today’s common sites. Script benchmarks measure script; overall browser performance involves many different factors. Looking at a slow motion video of today’s common web sites in the latest browsers, IE is often the fastest at real world sites. Unlike some other browsers, IE isolates misbehaving sites so that only that tab, not the entire browser, crashes.
Use more of the web, easier. With IE8, people can get what they want out of web pages, often with just one-click, in the flow of their regular browsing. Webslices make it easy to stay up to date on the latest information from a web page (like weather, traffic, or status updates). Accelerators make it easy to act on the current page (mapping, sending, sharing, etc.) using another web service without the tedious work of “copy, new tab, navigate, paste.” Visual search results and Quick Pick make it easy to get the search results users want from the search services users choose. Users are in control of how they use services with these their with these secure, reliable, and consistent extensions.
Stay safer from real world threats: IE8 has built-in protections to keep users safe from real threats. These defenses are easy to understand and use, from highlighting the current site’s domain in the address bar to the clear indicator when IE is browsing “InPrivate.” IE provides protection from today’s dangers, like malicious software downloads, as well as tomorrow’s, like cross-site scripting attacks. IE is the only browser that, out of the box, enables sites to protect their customers from clickjacking attacks.
Build on real world interoperability, standards, and compatibility. IE8 shows Microsoft’s commitment to an open and interoperable web. IE8 by default shows web pages in its most standards compliant mode. With IE8, we’re delivering the most complete and correct implementation of CSS 2.1 available in any browser. To improve interoperability not just for IE but for all browsers, we’ve contributed over 7,000 test cases to the W3C (and taken feedback along the way). This will make it easier for the people who build the web to develop with standards. We’ve started delivering on HTML5. We’ve also made the specifications for webslices, accelerators, and visual search available to the community (under the appropriate open licenses) for a more open, interoperable, and rich web. IE creates great opportunities for developers and sites to integrate themselves into their users workflow and make their experience stand out.

We respect the practical realities of web development. We are actively engaging site developers and have built strong developer tools into the product to help them. Many site developers have not yet had the time to adjust to IE’s new behavior. To make sure the web continues to work for the people who use these sites with IE, consumers have a “Compatibility View” button and access to a community-driven compatibility view list.

Download: Windows XP 32bit | 64 bit
Download: Windows Vista 32bit | 64Bit
Download: Other Versions
Source: IE Team Blog

"We're sorry, but you won't be able to download Internet Explorer 8 for Windows 7 Beta at this timeWindows 7 Beta already includes a pre-release candidate version of Internet Explorer 8 that is optimized for that release. Windows 7 enables unique features and functionality in Internet Explorer 8 including Windows Touch and Jump Lists which require additional product tests to ensure we are providing the best Windows experience for our customers. We will continue to update the version of Internet Explorer 8 running on Windows 7 as the development cycles of Windows 7 progress and plan to include the final version of Internet Explorer 8 in the release candidate version of Windows 7 later this year. "

Any information on when/if this will be released via windows update

Well I'm running it now, and it doesn't feel any faster, and certainly feels slower than Firefox and Opera on my machine. I also notice that input seems to "lag" when I'm typing into a textbox such as the one I'm typing this reply into. It is very noticable too.
EDIT2: In compatibility mode this input lag appears to be gone.

The only thing I've noticed so far which feels faster is scrolling down pages, which is VERY smooth. Tabs also seem to take a while to open, although it is alot faster than IE7, but still not as quick as Firefox or Opera to be honest.
EDIT: I see IE is doing the tab isolation thing, so that would be the reason behind that and can be expected.

People seem to think IE8 is either going to take over Firefox again or already has (well according to a Slashdot article I didn't really read), but in my opinion it still has a long way to go.

^ I found that turning off search suggestions sped up IE tremendously.

IE8 will be available through Windows Update on the Week of March 23 (for Beta / RC users) & Week of April 13 for all other users. It will then be pushed via sutomatic updates on April 27

The big news of the day is that the MSRC (Microsoft Security Response Center) woke me up before my alarm went off this morning to let me know that they had reproduced and validated IE8 vulnerability discovered by the mysterious Nils. Of course, we can't tell you anything more than that- stay tuned for more information once Microsoft releases an update for it! I continue to be impressed by the dedication of the MSRC team- and was shocked to get the news of verification in less than 12 hours- considering the entire IE team was most likely at the MIX 2009 con down in Vegas for the official launch of IE8!

Source: DVLabs

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Seems that Opera and Chrome were the only browsers that did not get hacked..

Lol yeah Nils sounds pretty good he hacked all the browsers. Safari must be embarased lol fell in a few seconds aparantly. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2343428,00.asp

Was Opera even tested?

Cant see Opera mentioned as one of the installed browsers...

Opera is too lil I guess. I read Opera has less than 1% of the market

Chrome only has about 1% market share

Opera has about 0.7%, but was left out

I wasn't gonna comment but in that graph "Safari" looked like it said "Satan" and I lol'd, just thought I'd let everyone know.