More then to 80% of PC users world wide still use XP. Do you really think users will want to upgrade their operating system and most of their programs just so they can use a new browser?...not to mention the huge costs involved for businesses.

I never had to replace any programs i purchased to get them to run on Windows 7 and if you have one of the few programs that may break, there is a version of Windows 7 that includes the Windows XP virtualized in which case it runs fantastic. Program compatibility as you state was basically solved in NT4 to 2000 days.

People also upgrade to Windows 7 for new functionality. You know, Windows Media Center, Native USB support, DirectX 10/11 support, better driver support and a zillion other things. Corporations uprgade to Windows 7 for the vastly increased deployment and management processes and integration into domain systems so on and so forth.

I expect most people will get windows 7 on a new pc.

also, its more like 45-50% marketshare, not 80%.

Microsoft WILL HAVE to come up with a striped down IE9 version for XP, sooner then later. The IE browser will be losing its market share much faster otherwise, it is that simple.

Why do they "HAVE" to? What benefit is there to dumping money into a dead end product when it has alternatives already available?

I don't see IE9 as a recovery for a lost cause, i see it as MS finally steering its flagship product in the right direction.

MS has made some bad bad mistakes. I'm not going to defend them in that regard, but i just don't see the reasoning for demanding an XP version.

Sorry should have mentioned 80% of business related PC users. That's what is see on my stats for half a dozen business related websites i currently monitor (more then 4000 business related uniqe viewrs per week).

Non business OS spread is currently roughly 40% XP and then 25% vista 25% win7, 10% other OS.

MS has made some bad bad mistakes. I'm not going to defend them in that regard, but i just don't see the reasoning for demanding an XP version.

demanding? whos demanding...

There are so many other good alt browsers out there....it is either MS come up with an XP version or Chrome/FF/safari/Opera will fill the gap. That's all there is to it realy :-)

If that is not a good enough reason for Microsoft to come up with an XP version (and fast) then maybe they deserve to lose the market share they are currently losing and are about to lose even more.

[edited by: Web_speed at 2:09 pm (utc) on Sep 16, 2010]

Many corporations have a 3 year cycle on their hardware and XP survived the last few refreshes for a lot of corporations and a lot of that has to do with the downturn in spending across the board period.

I also see a lot of corporations going back to thin client setups with citrix or terminal services deployments and IE9 will fit that just nicely.

For those that will refresh in windows 7 and upgrade their browsers i'm sure IE9 will fit in nicely.

I'm not sure Chrome and Firefox really want much of the corporate world since they don't really do much to appease them - you know, integrating into group policy management, simple deployment & management controls so on and so forth.

MS sat on their butts for a long time here for sure.. i think much of what IE9 offers should have been part of Windows 7 a year ago but oh well ;)

There are so many other good alt browsers out there....it is either MS come up with an XP version or Chrome and FF fill the gap. That's all there is to it realy.

There is no value in investing on Windows XP. Sooner or later Chrome and Firefox will just stop supporting that platform as they too will leverage OS functionaly that enhances performance and user experience that isn't available in XP. IF you want to hold out forever then those browsers are you chance to do so.

Just as chrome and Firefox generally don't support OSX < 10.5 moving forward and are intel only.. Firefox seems to quietly be dropping a lot of platforms

If that is not a good enough reason for Microsoft to come up with an XP version (and fast) then maybe they deserve to lose the market share they are currently losing and are about to lose even more.

XP isn't generating marketshare and any loss of marketshare is a new opportunity for windows 7 which is a profitable enterprise for Microsoft to develop for.

I have a 41 year old Camaro that I love as is too. I like Windows XP and everything I need runs well with it.

these are computers not cars, are you posting from your 386?

Many corporations have a 3 year cycle on their hardware and XP survived the last few refreshes for a lot of corporations and a lot of that has to do with the downturn in spending across the board period.

not all businesses = big corporations.
In fact the vast majority are not.

not all businesses = big corporations.
In fact the vast majority are not.

Small Business isn't the driving factor of extended XP support though, large enterprise is.

Small Businesses would be unwise to further invest in sustaining XP and if Small Businesses want to leverage modern web applications i'm pretty sure they have already upgraded to Vista or 7 to take advantage thereof.

There is no value in investing on Windows XP.

:-) i bookmarked this thread so we can continue this discussion once MS announces the release of an XP compatible version (IE 8.5 or something along these lines)...my bet is that they will. I guess only time will tell.

You will continue to see security updates for XP but that is it.

IE 9 crashed my windows 7 machine repeatedly. I rolled back to 8 and will stay there until they fix the bugs.

For IE to stay the dominant browser, it needs to:

* beat other browsers on every performance measure
* be more CSS, HTML, etc.. compliant than other browser
* bug free
* secure
* clutter free and easy to use GUI

Think they still have more work in all these areas.

I can't find the answer anywhere: Anybody happen to know if this is a stand-alone beta or does it completely replace IE8?

Completely replaces, according to a Softpedia [news.softpedia.com] author. I cannot confirm.

Well, I must say what do you expect? Introduced 10 years ago is the OS you run with?

And who's fault is that? First MS takes ages to create a monster (Vista) and then another two years to get to W7.
Plus that millions are still running XP (e.g. companies) worldwide and it will cost millions to upgrade something that is still running good. How about throwing money away big time.

And a browser should be OS independent and fall back gracefully if the OS it runs on doesn't support features it might require.

If you install it you will see it completely replaces IE8. Easy to roll back to 8 just go into windowsupdate history right click on "IE 9".

And who's fault is that? First MS takes ages to create a monster (Vista) and then another two years to get to W7.

eh, I think a lot of the vista bashing came from people drinking the kool aid and watching to many mac switch ads. Sure vista had some annoying things you had to configure but after that it was fine.

I ran vista for its lifetime with no problems.

Can't tell you how many times I gave people vista machines only for them to go OH NO NOT VISTA, i say what? the reply oh my friends says blahblahblahbh, 2 months later I say hows that vista. Oh its fine.

case closed.

also i dont know, but i saw a graphic, from microsoft, that states that xp and w7 users are equal in numbers, because vista users are upgrading to win 7