Going Forward

Long term, we believe this is the right thing for the web. Shorter term, leading up not just to IE8’s release but broader IE8 adoption, this choice creates a clear call to action to site developers to make sure their web content works well in IE. This topic is one of many things we’ll talk about with respect to IE8 at MIX this week.

Thanks,

Dean Hachamovitch
General Manager
Internet Explorer

Granted, it wasn't the primary reason, but at least he mentioned it in the last paragraph. Whatever the motivation, I think most will agree that it's a welcome change.

Whether they'll lure current Firefox, Opera, and Netscape users to IE is another matter, though.

RE: IE8 and Standards: Change for the *right* reasons