No Internet Explorer 9 on Windows XP, says Microsoft

[Andrew]

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According to Microsoft, the graphics acceleration in Internet Explorer 9 requires a modern OS. Google, Mozilla and Opera offer yet this feature in XP-compatible versions of their respective browser.

Microsoft announced in March at its Developers MIX 2010 lecture, confirming that this week at Web 2.0 Expo: Internet Explorer 9 will not be compatible with Windows XP. The minimum version of Windows browser requirements for the future is indeed Vista SP2.

Reason for neglecting this platform is still used by about 60% of computer users: the HTML 5 and hardware acceleration require a modern operating system. This explanation of Giorgio Sardo, Technical Evangelist at Microsoft, is not really convincing.

Objective unacknowledged: to encourage the migration of OS

To some observers, including Forrester analyst, Sheri McLeish, the publisher wants above all to turn away from Windows XP, especially for business reasons: encourage migration users to another version of Windows, especially Windows 7.

Windows XP does in fact has no technical limitations that would prevent implementation of HTML 5 and hardware acceleration in IE9.

During a conference at Web 2.0 Expo, Alex Russell the development team of Chrome has indeed reminded Opera, Mozilla and Google implementing these technologies into their browser versions compatible with Windows XP.

Another 60% of PC users operate XP

For Russell, it is neither more nor less users that are left by this decision on the roadside. This would lead to terms by a two-tiered Internet with people who enjoy the novelty and the comforts brought by HTML 5 and the hardware acceleration, and other not because of their choice of system platform.

Finally, users abandoned, not quite. For to browsers IE competitors, Microsoft's decision may be an opportunity to increase their market share. Users who do not wish or be unable to migrate the OS will still benefit from advances in adopting standards in Chrome, Firefox or Opera.

Doug Crockford, JavaScript architect at Yahoo! has recommended for XP users to migrate to a browser other than Internet Explorer. This recommendation is particularly meaningful to version 6 of IE (supported until 2014), which despite its obsolescence is widely used in business, often because of specific developments made in the past.

[Eric B]

That will not help boost internet explorer, damage is that it is a good browser. The competition has its good points: it's not good browsers that run well on XP missing. When understanding the concept of genius who has pushed MS to send its customers to the competition there is out of reach.