IE 8 is Microsoft's first stab...
... at a standards-compliant version of its browser.
You've gotta admire a company that takes eight versions (and a little pressure from the EU) before it even considers trying to make a standards 'compliant' product. But where's SVG? Still stuck with the painfully slow VML for all those mapping applications.
Paris, 'cos she'll be pleased IE users will probably never get to see her between <video/> tags.