IE 9 To Murder Windows XP; Will Firefox Save It?

Microsoft has started pulling plugs off its old, yet somehow popular, operating system, Windows XP. The silver bullet that the company is using to assassinate XP is called IE9.

Microsoft is reportedly working on the next version of its browser Internet Explorer 9. There are media reports that IE 9 will not run on Windows XP. Forget XP, the browser will not run on anything less than Windows Vista SP2.

The company claims that the new browser will take advantage of the new Direct2D technology,  Microsoft's proprietary technology for GPU accelaration.

According to a blog by Bas Schouten, “Direct2D is designed as a replacement for GDI and functions as a vector graphics rendering engine, using GPU acceleration to give large performance boosts to transformations and blending operations.”

Microsoft implemented this technology in Windows 7, thus it is not supported in Windows XP. Makes sense. But how much sense does it make to completely deny IE 9 to Windows XP users? Well, it does make sense: to force Windows XP users to migrate to Windows 7 even if they don't need to. It is simple business nothing right or wrong.

But, Windows XP users need not worry. Muktware or Free Software (aka Open Source) world has not orphaned them.

The Muktware champion web browser, Firefox is also working on the next version of its Internet browser, Firefox 3.7. The browser not only supports Direct2D, but also installs smoothly on Windows Vista without service pack 2. The browser also installs flawlessly on Windows XP machines.

I have attached some screen shots from a Vista (without SP2) machine which was denied installation of IE9 along with screenshots of a virtual Windows XP machine running within Ubuntu operating system. Click to see high resolution images.

IE 9 denied to Vista (minus SP 2) users.

Firefox 3.7 running smoothly on Windows Vista (without SP2)
 

Firefox 3.7 running on Windows XP.

You can go ahead and download the non-released version of Firefox3.7 from here and test on your machine. If you want to give it a try, you can also try pre-released version of IE9.

However, this version of Firefox 3.7 is a non released, testing version (code named Minefield) which allows you to get a glimpse of the developmental work. It is not recommended to be installed on production machines.

While Microsoft has no intention of releasing IE 9 for other popular operating systems like GnuLinux (as if GnuLinux users want IE) and Mac, Firefox 3.7 runs on GnuLinux and Windows both. It took me some 25 seconds to download and install versions of Firefox3.7 on GnuLinux and Windows platform. It was one a click install on GnuLinux as well as Windows.

But when I tried to download and install the preview version of IE9, I had to move from one window to another and then I was greeted by this welcome screen. Now I am downloading and installing SP2, which will take some hours.

IE 9 will not only ensure timely demise of Windows XP, but also help Firefox increase its market share in the Windows environment.

What do you want Firefox or IE?

[Note: Install any of the above mentioned software at your own risk. We have made it clear that they are testing versions, we will not be responsible for any loss.]