Download IE8, Help Feed America’s Hungry

Looking for more ways to help out the needy?  Try looking into Microsoft's "Browser for the Better" program, which donates what they claim to be the financial equivalent of eight meals to the Feeding America network for every download of Internet Explorer 8.

We all know what royal pain IE 6 has been for many developers and that is why it has definitely taken a hit with browsers like Firefox, Opera and Chrome stealing away a considerable portion of their market share.  As such, a gimmicky promotion might be their best bet at making a run to salvage the shrinking user base.  At least, the marketing ploy leads to some good, feeding a couple of people who'd probably starve a night otherwise.  Don't count on doing a world of good with your download, though.  As it turns out, "eight meals" in Microsoft lexicon translates to $1.15.  Yep, you sure can cook eight meals out of that amount - for kittens! Still, its something.

The special promotion will run from June 10 to August 8, with the donation capping off at $1 million dollars.  Feeding America, the beneficiary, is a domestic hunger-relief charity in the U.S. and distributes 2 billion pounds of donated food to more than 25 million low-income individuals across the country.

With a million dollar budget, that will represent up to 869,565 downloads for IE8, which should go a decent way towards ensuring more people will get the brand new browser into their PCs.  Since downloading IE doesn't mean using it, it probably won't make that much of a dent in Microsoft's attempts to quell the growing competition, but at least, they'll have folks trying it at least once.

[Browser For The Better via Neowin]