Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Whitepapers

Microsoft released some Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Whitepapers. download them here: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ProjectName=ie8whitepapers&ReleaseId=581

Some Ajax improvements

AJAX Navigation enables users to navigate back
and forth without leaving the AJAX application and could be used
navigating a page without performing a traditional full navigation.
This allows websites to trigger an update to browser components like
the address bar by setting the window.location.hash value, firing an
event to alert components in the page and even creating an entry in
the travel log.

DOM Storage is a simple-to-use method for
storing and retrieving strings of key/value pair data. Data can be
stored per tab instance for a session or persisted to the local
machine. This allows pages to cache text on the machine which
reduces the effect of network latencies by providing faster access
to pre-cached data. Several innovative uses are possible. For
example, use this in combination with the new network connectivity
event to allow a page to cache data if it detects that the computer
is offline.

Connectivity events allow websites to check
when the user is connected to the network and receive notification
of connectivity changes.

Six connections per host instead of two for
broadband scenarios and a scriptable property allow for more
improved performance by allowing parallelization of downloads in
Internet Explorer 8. In addition, this increases functionality by
ensuring a request is not blocked to a host if two connections
already exist. Websites can optimize their downloads based on a
scriptable property.

XMLHTTPRequest Enhancements include a timeout
property that can be set to cancel the request if necessary,
allowing developers to manage the request better.