New Features for IT Pros Coming in Next IE8 Beta

Microsoft is making some improvements to Internet Explorer that it hopes will make deploying and managing the browser easier for IT professionals.

The second beta version of IE8, expected in August, will have new capabilities for IT staff, including an easier way to deploy the browser with Vista. IT staff will be able to add IE8 to a Vista image more quickly in order to deploy the two products out to many users. Currently, IT professionals have to go through a process that can take two hours to deploy IE7 along with a Windows XP image, Microsoft said.

The new capability comes after consistent feedback from users that deploying IE7 as part of Windows XP is difficult, Microsoft said in a blog post.