Should Web Developers upgrade to Internet Explorer 8?

Question

I am a web applications developer stuck working on a Windows machine. Today I got an update notification asking me to upgrade Internet Explorer to version 8. I previously had IE 8 installed during the beta, but uninstalled it due to inconsistencies between it's 'compatibility mode' and a stand-alone version of IE 7 (very weird, albeit 'fringe', javascript/css errors).

So my question is, have those inconsistencies been worked out by now? If I test a site in compatibility mode, how confident can I be that that's exactly how it will appear/work in IE 7? Do you think it's 'safe' for a web developer to upgrade to IE 8 at this point in time?

Answer 1

Install IE8, you need to be able to check pages in IE8 after all. To check with older versions, you can install IETester. It saves you from bothering with virtual machines.

Answer 2

The best advice I can give is that you keep a few Virtual Machines with IE7 and IE6. IE8 has been very inconsistent for me as well, crashing every now and then. Compatibility mode seems to work at least in my sites, so that part looks ok.