Microsoft released Internet Explorer Beta 2 this week, in a clear attempt to catch up with some of the rival browsers, such as Firefox 3, Opera or Safari. For this reason, Internet Explorer 8 Beta got a complete makeover, providing new features and improved functionality, for an easier and faster experience.

So what do we make of this release? First of all, unlike Beta 1, which was intended for developers, Beta 2 aims at a much wider audience. According to Microsoft, IE8 is based on three main areas of interest: everyday browsing, safety, and the platform.

Among the first features we get to see when first trying IE8 is “Suggested Sites,” which may seem interesting at first, but I don’t honestly find it to be that useful. It’s start however towards meeting user demands and perhaps making the experience more interesting. Anyway, it didn’t work that well for me, since the suggestions were not quite what I had in mind.

Other than that, and probably the most impressive feature that I’ve seen, is the new tab system, which at a first glance seems quite good, easy to use, especially since the browser does all the grouping for you.

Here’s how this works: Microsoft intended to incorporate “the natural flow of how users work,” by taking into account the relationship between new tabs. This will make your tab bar look quite colorful, in a good way, making navigation quite easy. The browser will not only color similar tabs, but it also re-arranges them so that all related tabs are next to each other.

And that’s not all, as the user gets to move tabs and integrate them into a tab group by simply dragging the desired tab to its rightful place. Accidentally closing tabs still make you re-open each tab, instead of the entire tab group, but that might change in the final version of Internet Explorer 8.

IE8 Beta 2 also comes with a Smart Address Bar, strikingly similar to the Firefox 3 idea, but hey, as long as it’s useful… The address bar offers not only URL suggestions, but also includes Favorites, History and RSS feeds in the search process. All the search suggestions are separated into different sections, i.e. history suggestions in History category, feeds in Feeds and so on.

Microsoft went even further and added Accelerators, previously known as Activities, to the Beta 2 (of course, most of them are Microsoft services, but that doesn’t make it less interesting). Accelerators facilitate access to web services from any visited page. This opens up new choices towards a faster, easier experience. In addition to that, the Web Slices deliver Web information on the go, somewhat similar with RSS feeds, but relying on graphically rich visual content.

Another aspect that we must give IE8 Beta 2 credit for is the speed: the browser works much faster than IE7, and shows some improvements compared to IE8 Beta 1 as well. In addition to that, the stability factory also adds to the overall performance.

Finally, we can’t forget about the InPrivate Browsing feature, which promises to act as users’ very own magician, making history, temporary Internet files and cookies disappear at the end of the browsing session. This is why it’s now known as the “porn mode,” although I don’t really think this is the first idea that went through Microsoft’s mind…

Microsoft still has a lot of work to do before unveiling the final version of Internet Explorer 8, but things look quite promising at the moment. Furthermore, it does seem to work quite well in terms of stability and speed, two key elements that promise to turn it into a key player among current browsers.