Microsoft Corporation reversed its earlier position on interoperability by issuing a statement that its upcoming Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) browser will default to a new standards-compliant rendering of Web pages on multiple browsers. Rather than defaulting to only Microsoft-based browser format, the Web pages will display properly on Apple’s Safari, Firefox and IE8, as well as others. The official announcement was made at the beginning of the MIX developer conference in Las Vegas, Nevada that is ongoing through this week. 

The reaction among developers was that this is good news, as developers have complained that Microsoft has intentionally avoided making its Internet Explorer browser compatible with other Web browsers to require developers to use Explorer, ensuring its popularity and wide use.  Some complained that Microsoft should have made this move some five to seven years earlier.

Previously, Microsoft had announced that IE8 would default to the current IE7 rendering mode to maintain compatibility with existing IE7 compatible Web pages. The new super-standards default mode should greatly lessen the time developers are required to spend to convert Web pages from one browser to another.