Wow. Like others around the web, I am shocked to learn that IE 8 will render pages in standards-compliant mode by default; Microsoft has spoken out and reversed their decision to have IE 8 require a meta tag for standards mode.

This is so mind-boggling that it’s hard for me to process. Microsoft is giving improved web standards priority over backwards compatibility and, more importantly, listening to the developer community (many of whom spoke out vehemently against IE 8’s proposed requirement of a meta tag to operate in standards mode). Thank you, Microsoft. I’m really happy to know that you’re actively working to support web standards, and especially that you’re willing to listen to the community.