As expected, Microsoft used this week's MIX09 conference to officially launch Internet Explorer 8, Cnet's Ina Fried reports. To make it easy to get your hands on IE8, links to the previous IE8 beta version website now automatically point to the official IE8 page. So, what's new in IE8? We've discussed  a lot of the new features in previous articles, but if you need to get up to speed, here are some of the high points:

• Compatibility mode, designed to enable IE8 (built, at long last, to comply with official standards) to properly render pages on sites designed to match previous IE versions' Microsoft-only features
• Web accelerators, which provide one-click blog, define, email, find, map, and search for content in any web page
• SmartScreen filter and other built-in features to help provide a more secure search environment
• InPrivate browsing that automatically blocks history and other traces of where you've been online
• A growing collection of add-ons in over 15 categories to help you customize IE8

Not sure you want to take IE8 for a spin? In addition to videos demonstrating many new features, you can download white papers discussing browser performance, IE8 security features (PDF link), and IE8's improvements in usability and features  (PDF link).

IE8 is available now for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. However, Windows 7 users must stick with the IE8 version included in beta and pre-release versions of Windows 7 for now. When Windows 7 RC is released, Microsoft plans to include the final Windows 7 version of IE8.

If you're having problems with IE8, check the FAQ, forums, and other resources available at the the IE TechNet page.

Have you tried IE8 final yet? Hit Comment and give us your take.

IE8 logo courtesy of David Naylor.