Last week Microsoft announced that the upcoming version of Internet Explorer would not be offered on the Windows XP platform, which might give those users a good reason to switch over to rival browsers such as Firefox or Chrome.
Microsoft is advertising Internet Explorer 9 as an HTML 5 browser, which is somewhat misleading considering how Internet Explorer lags behind the competition in HTML 5 compatibility. In addition to supporting HTML 5 video and audio tags, Internet Explorer 9 will support hardware accelerated graphics, which requires access to APIs that were built into Windows 7. Microsoft retrofitted Windows Vista with these APIs in October, but have decided not to update Windows XP.
In some respects, this is a valid business decision. How long should a company be forced to support their software products? Microsoft's policy was to support Windows XP for 10 years, so they've already extended that by three years. Is it reasonable to expect them to continue support for it?
Perhaps not. But it might be a good business decision for Microsoft to retrofit XP with the APIs needed to run Internet Explorer. After all, Internet Explorer has been leaking market share for years, having recently dipped below a 60% market share. That's down from over 90% back at the turn of the century. And while Microsoft markets Internet Explorer as a browser of the future with (some) HTML 5 compatibility, it is still lagging behind the competition in many areas -- including that so-called HTML 5 compatibility.
In short, XP users have alternatives. And if push comes to shove, it might be much easier for them to install the latest version of Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Opera than it would be to upgrade their operating system.
Many might view this as simply a ploy to 'force' people to upgrade to Windows 7, though I'm not so sure on that point. While Microsoft is fond of using one technology to push another technology, I think this is simply more of a decision not to continue spending money to support XP into eternity. After all, delivering Internet Explorer 9 for Windows XP would mean either (1) releasing a new patch for the operating system that would contain those needed APIs or (2) creating a separate version of Internet Explorer 9 that substituted software-based graphics for the hardware accelerated routines.
Another issue here is the mere fact that so many people are unwilling to upgrade to Microsoft's newest operating system. And who can blame them? Microsoft certainly doesn't make it friendly, charging nearly $200 for the Windows 7 Home Premium version. For those doing the math, that's about 1/3 of the cost of a low end laptop. And for that price, the person gets what many feel is a slower and less stable operating system.
Installing an alternative browser might just be an easy decision of many still clinging to XP.
If Windows XP is 13 years old, when did Windows 2000 come out?
That’s my bad. Windows XP is being supported for 13 years, it is not 13 years old. Somehow, the number 13 got stuck in my brain. I’ve corrected the article.