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Comment by Maciek416 | Hacker News Reader

Wow, this is a tremendous piece of news. Not only is Canvas supported, but a huge list of other impressive standards-related stuff as well.

To boot, there will be support for ES5. I'm not up to date on where the other browser-makers are at this point, but could it actually end up that Microsoft will be the first out of the gate with a widely-distributed ES5 implementation?

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It would be great if Microsoft would start being embarrassed about their current browser offering and develop some ambition to make a great browser. It looks like they're trying.

I think they've gone from worrying about the web being a platform on top of Windows which commoditizes it to being worried instead that Windows won't even be a common commodity underneath unless they get their act together.

Or that everyone will be using competing browsers, at which point they have less tying them to Windows. It also doesn't hurt to worry about making Windows a first-class web use and development platform via a decent first-party browser.

I've hated Microsoft as much as the next guy - but I hope they pull it together. Or more like throw it out.

They have the organization and the discipline to do it, but there's too much in Windows as it exists today to fit on current mobile devices effectively. (I could be wrong about that reason, but I'm sure its bloat doesn't help)

At the very least the UI needs a full rebuilding. OSX wasn't adequate for mobile computing either. But I can see Microsoft's idea of having fully compatible environments everywhere as interesting but not feasible. But they sure will continue to try.

The web is a close to a write once run everywhere environment as there is today. (it's not perfect for sure).

Competition is a good thing. People hate the idea of a Mac vs. PC "war", for example, but it was a good thing. In reality neither company really competes in OS's any longer. Neither Windows or Mac OS are really undergoing a lot of development these days. Apple and Microsoft are both content and off doing other things. Phones, tablets, games, databases, etc. Has all the interesting stuff been done with the OS?

Well windows 7 was released not so long ago. That was pretty big for the windows world.

It was a huge success because it was essentially a usable, bug-fixed Vista. Technologically, XP to Vista was a much larger step than Vista to 7.

No doubt they'll add some special extension that uses perl for the drawing commands just so -- you know -- nothing but Ie9 can parse it.

In my opinion this is just Microsoft doing some hand waiving to confuse people. IE9 wont work on XP which means a majority of users won't have IE9 with in the next 5 years.

BY doing this Microsoft is able to say "Hey, we are standards compliant, we are the good guys now" and still actually be not standards compliant and prevent inovation on the web. To me this seems like normal Microsoft FUD[1]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt

Wow.. MS just can't win with some people.

IE6 and Windows XP are essentially the same age... Just as people need to upgrade their browser, they should be upgrading their OS.

Really? Because I can still buy a brand new computer with a brand new copy of XP, from Microsoft.

XP was the most reliable operating system from Microsoft, and I really don't like Windows 7. In this, I am not alone. I see absolutely no benefits in getting 7, and I have having to use it at work. I have found 7 to be less reliable, and more annoying to get simple stuff done. It really seems Microsoft keeps moving things around for no reason. The only thing I like about it is the improved task bar, and I can install that on XP (and have done.)

Firefox/Safari/Chrome/Opera still work ok on XP, Microsoft have just decided to leave XP alone.

How do you buy a copy of Windows XP, let alone a computer, from Microsoft?

Go to a Microsoft Store? http://store.microsoft.com/Locations

Actually, they probably won’t sell you a copy of XP, but I’m sure they’ll sell you a computer. They actually negotiated deals with OEMs to supply no-crapware versions of their computers for the stores.

I never said that you couldn't or shouldn't be running XP. What I said was that if you want the features and benefits that Microsoft offers with their new releases, you shouldn't be upset when they're not available for an almost 10 year old OS.

I'm glad you're able to still get stuff done on XP, but time is short and soon Microsoft will no longer be issuing security updates for XP. In a way, forcing most people to upgrade.

I see absolutely no benefits in getting 7

IE9 is one, isn't it? Or Firefox with Direct2D.

I'm confident that XP usage will be declining significantly over the next five years.

It would be welcome if they wouldn't play the OS upgrade card with IE 9, though.Unlike something like Direct X, users won't feel the need to upgrade so they can use IE 9. I assume they decided it is too much trouble to make it work on XP, due to IE's OS integration? Other browser manufacturers don't and won't have a problem supporting their browsers on XP.

wow, just wow. Is it the OS integration that makes people feel like they cant update their browser? Standards change and evolve- sure MS wasnt exactly on the forefront of web standards support but it looks like with IE9 they are actually making an attempt to stay relevant.

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