When text() function is called for string without html tags in it, in IE6/7 is not returning value. IE8 (with IE7 compatibility mode is ok), FF3, Opera 9 are working ok.

How to reproduce:

var data = "<?xml version=\\"1.0\\" encoding=\\"utf-8\\"?><string xmlns=\\"http://192.168.2.3:81/WebService.asmx\\">TEXT</string> ";

var ret = $(data).text();

To fix string in variable data need to be inside some html tag:

var data = "<?xml version=\\"1.0\\" encoding=\\"utf-8\\"?><string xmlns=\\"http://192.168.2.3:81/WebService.asmx\\"><a>TEXT</a></string> ";

var ret = $(data).text();

alert(ret);