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I would like to write an add-on for IE 8, but I want to use pure managed C#. Is this possible yet? I know for the longest time we were talking only C++.

+13  A: 

Ultimately, the C# will end up calling into IE8's COM functions. There's a framework called Spicie that makes this easier, and some other examples here: http://www.enhanceie.com/ie/dev.asp

Generally, it's a bad idea to write browser extensions in .NET because there's a severe performance impact, and there's the possibility of runtime collisions because only one version of .NET can be loaded into a process currently; if two addons want to use conflicting .NET versions, one will fail.

EricLaw -MSFT-
What causes the severe performance impact?
Millhouse
You have to spin up the .NET framework at loadtime, and because IE8 uses a process-per-tab, you'll end up loading the framework on every tab creation. Even on a fast machine, this is a non-trivial impact to the working set and load time.
EricLaw -MSFT-
+2  A: 

Have a look at this

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/SpicIE

PrimeTSS