IE9 beta will not work on Windows XP

[Doz]

IE9 and Windows XP: Readers speak out.


Despite my mostly positive take on the Microsoft's IE9 beta Web browser released to the public this week, there are some important shortcomings.

The biggest is that IE9 won't work on a lot of computers. That's because the new browser is incompatible with Windows XP, an operating system that -- despite being two generations old -- is still widely employed in businesses and at homes. (IE9 works on Windows Vista but is really made for Windows 7).

Several readers posted comments on the XP snub. Frieddough wrote: "So this puts my five year old computer with Windows XP one step closer to being obsolete. Sorry, I refuse to drop another grand, at least, so I can read my email from home for the next few years before that becomes obsolete."

Reader johnnynobody was equally frustrated: "Lack of XP support turns me off to this browser," he wrote.

And then there was juscurious: "They do this KNOWING (and not caring that) their customers will be XP'd off."

But some readers were more sympathetic to Microsoft's side. "You all realized that XP is 10 years old..," wrote drvax. "I bet you cannot name one company that offers support for a software product that old. Apple, Oracle, Novell, IBM, HP etc. NOT a one."

Adds harbor521: "C'mon people...I'm a die hard XP user and even I can figure out that you can't keep making new products compatible with things forEVER...the problem is not that IE9 doesn't work with XP, it's that XP is too old to work with the new tech in IE9."

This couldn't have been an easy choice for Microsoft. Sure, it would have been nice for XP to work with IE9. But the chief benefits behind IE9 come in embracing modern Web standards and technologies that are incompatible with the older operating system.

Meanwhile, one of the other problems I had mentioned in my review was that I couldn't log into online bill pay with IE9, though I had no difficulty doing so with earlier versions of IE. Microsoft informed me that a "compatibility tweak" was applied to the back end and pushed via a seamless IE9 update. In my case, it resolved the issue.


Source Info = http://content.usatoday.com/communit...rs-speak-out/1

[Doz]

IE9 Won't Support Windows XP
The newest version of the Internet Explorer browser from Microsoft won't run on Windows XP, still the company's most widely-used operating system.



Now that Microsoft has released the first public beta of Internet Explorer 9, the browser wars are heating up again. And, as in any war, there are going to be casualties. In this case, Windows XP is taking the hit.

As Datamation reports, Microsoft announced that, for a number of reasons, its latest browser won't run on Windows XP, but will run on the newer Vista and Windows 7. The article details Microsoft's decision and what alternative the software giant suggests for XP users.



If Microsoft's new browser is as popular as the company hopes, it may reverse Internet Explorer's (IE) market share slide -- but it might also help to do something that the software giant has been trying unsuccessfully to accomplish for several years -- kill off Windows XP.



LOL Firefox 4 Will still Kick ass over IE9

[Doz]

When Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 9, will it require Windows 7 Service Pack 1?

No. Internet Explorer 9 will install on systems that have either Windows 7 RTM or Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed."
According to Ars Technica, a previous version of the FAQ said that "Internet Explorer 9 will require Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Therefore, organizations must plan, pilot, and deploy Internet Explorer 9 as part of or after a Windows 7 SP1 deployment."


Yesterday we reported that Internet Explorer 9 on Windows 7 would have Service Pack 1, due in the first half of next year, as a prerequisite—a surprising move, given that companies are often cautious about rolling out new service packs. Microsoft has now changed its public position: Service Pack 1 won't be required to run the new browser.

LOL Still Firefox 4 will kick IE9