Unfortunately, IE 8 won't render SVG at all. I suppose graphics could be designed in a vector-based tool like Illustrator that can export SVG for compatible browsers as well as raster for lte IE8.
raphael.js can take svg-style input (it's trivial to write a svg-raphael converter) and display it in all browsers incuding IE using IE's VML support. It's a hack but it's a damn nice piece of tech and allows us to move forward with SVG use.
Sometimes if I want a simple GIF knocking up, it's quicker to open vi and write the SVG, then use imagmagick to convert to GIF, than it is to open a proper paint program.
