April Fools comes early with IE 8.1 rumor

I'm not a fan of April Fools Day. Trying to separate fact from fiction gets harder each year -- as a new fake blog post on an alleged "IE 8.1" release makes clear.

Upon a quick first read, the rumored leak of an IE 8.1 almost sounded possible. Sure, the supposed IE 8.1 "Eagle Eyes" codename seamed a little wonky, but supposed features like better ACID-test compliance and faster JavaScript performance seemed somewhat believable. By the time I hit the post author's bio information, I was convinced there was no IE 8.1 code out there. His bio:

"Jacob Gube is a professional contemporary dancer for the New York City Dance Company. An avid Steve Jobs follower(/stalker)*, you can find him in the local Star Bucks with his Mac Book Air developing .NET applications. Follow him on Twitter… if you really must."

Microsoft officials confirmed that the original IE 8.1 post is fake. A spokesperson sent the following statement: "It is confirmed that this story is either an April Fools' joke or a completely inaccurate article."

There will be plenty more foolery coming tomorrow, no doubt.  Meanwhile, it's on to IE 9....

Meanwhile, this browser-related story does not appear to be a hoax: Firefox becomes most popular browser in Europe, says StatCounter. (Thanks to WinBeta for the original link.)