Ars Technica posted a review on IE8 Beta 1
>> New IE8 beta 1 tantalizes, rough edges and all
To coincide with the first day of MIX08, the first beta of Internet Explorer 8 has been released. The big feature is, of course, better standards compliance, and to this IE8 adds a few small bells and whistles. This release is aimed squarely at developers so that they can get a head start on preparing their pages for the new browser; a later beta will be more suitable for a wide audience.
>> New IE8 beta 1 tantalizes, rough edges and all