• IE10 Exclusively on Windows 8 and Windows 7, Forget XP and Vista

    Forget Windows XP and Windows Vista, Internet Explorer 10 will support Windows 7 and Windows 8 exclusively.

    Since IE9 doesn’t play nice with XP, it’s really no surprise at all that IE10 will also be ignoring the decade-old operating system.

    However, with the delivery of the first Platform Preview of IE10, Windows Vista joins XP in warming the bench.

    At least XP is being kept in the game by a loyal user base, still the largest worldwide, and over twice the size of Windows 7’s.

    Vista never got much love to begin with, and dumping it for a Windows 7 upgrade feels like releasing ballast to take flight.

    The IE team has met with a barrage of criticism for its decision not to bring IE9 to XP, but I doubt the fact that the same will happen over not offering IE10 on Vista. And since there is no support for XP with IE9, it’s clear that nobody should have expected the successors of Internet Explorer 9 to be any different.

    But as far as IE10 not supporting Vista, the move makes perfect sense, even ignoring the shrinking market share of the OS.

    I don’t know whether you watched the day one keynote address at MIX11, but Dean Hachamovitch, Corporate Vice President, Internet Explorer opened up focusing on native experiences, in the context of IE, Windows and the web.

    Here’s an excerpt of what he said:

    “Every library, every layer, every abstraction between your site and the device challenge performance, reliability, and the overall experience. Native experiences are the best experiences. Web experiences are the most important experiences.

    “The only native experience of the Web of HTML5 today is on Windows 7 with IE9. To deliver the most native HTML5 experience, we built IE9 from the ground up for HTML5 and for Windows.”

    This is why, early adopters heading to the IE Test Drive Center will find that: “The Internet Explorer Platform Preview requires Windows 7 (x86 or x64) Operating System.”

    According to Microsoft: “Platform Preview 4 and later require updates to be installed on Windows 7 systems, after which your computer will require a restart. The updates support Platform Preview graphics, media, and printing functionality.

    “The Platform Preview is designed to install these prerequisites automatically. However, if the Platform Preview encounters an error while installing the prerequisites, you can install them manually prior to installing the Platform Preview.”

    My best guess is that the IE team aims to make IE10 a native experience on Windows 8. Just as IE9 delivers the best possible user experience only on Windows 7 today, so will IE10 be at the top of its game on the next version of Windows.

    It’s really a question of Windows 8, IE10 and the underlying hardware working in unison to make possible native web experiences.

    Now, this is all speculation on my part, but I’m willing to bet that I’m right. Also, I cannot help but wonder whether Microsoft plans to backport some Windows 8 technologies and components to Windows 7 (via Win7 SP2 maybe?), per the Vista SP2 and its Platform Update model.

    I assume that ignoring Vista with IE10 is a move catalyzed by the fact that Internet Explorer 10 will be tailored for the enhancements in Windows 8 as well as upcoming hardware improvements. If IE10 will support Windows 7 it would simply make sense for some of the evolution related to Windows 8 to rub off on its predecessor.

    Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) Platform Preview 1 (PP1) is available for download here.

    Windows Internet Explorer 9 RTW for Windows 7 and Windows 7 SP1 is available for download here.

    Source: Softpedia
    Comments 11 Comments
    1. duke0102's Avatar
      duke0102 -
      Seems a little harsh excluding Vista.... Not that I really care now I'm with Win 7 lmao
    1. bobbintb's Avatar
      bobbintb -
      god i hate ie
    1. Cabalo's Avatar
      Cabalo -
      God, I hate XP.
    1. duke0102's Avatar
      duke0102 -
      God, I hate cancer.... no? lmao

      I was forced to use XP for a couple of weeks few weeks ago, felt like using an abacus.
    1. Tarom's Avatar
      Tarom -
      Vista is an unlawful bastard child of Win 7. No one likes Vista not even Microsoft...
    1. Jiminamsterdam's Avatar
      Jiminamsterdam -
      It doesn't surprise me that IE10 or IE09 wont work with XP, in it's time XP was really great but technology always moves on and XP just can't cut it any more. Vista was just horrible but by the time it got it's last service pack it had greatly improved, to little to late though and 7 is just so much better, people who want to continue using XP must own really old equipment and perhaps they only use their PC for occasional web browsing e-mail etc... which is why they don't want to invest in a new PC. However everthing has it's limits and surfing the web with IE06 isn't safe. I think if you are still using XP it's time to take the plunge and just go out and buy a new PC the added bonus being you will get Windows 7 with it, and once you get used to it you will wonder why the hell you didn't get it earlier.
      My tuppence worth, Jim
    1. Appzalien's Avatar
      Appzalien -
      Not me, they can ignore XP users all they want, but I can ignore Windows 7 & 8 can't I?
      I'm happy with XP and used to its GUI, I also like its configurability over 7. I have a Vista Machine I use to play games so I can use DX10 but I see no difference between DX9 and DX10. So they want me to use 7 to get DX11 and IE10, I don't think so.
      Don't any of you remember the horrible lack of drivers both for Vista and 7? Or how about the problems with 64 bit and older but still very useful hardware? All my hardware is XP compatible and I have no worries, besides, I tried the Win7 pre release and hated the GUI and all the change for change sake they pulled to try and make 7 not look like a fixed Vista.
      Go ahead and love 7, most of you guys who do are probably the same ones that defended Vista when it came out and said how much you like that one!
    1. duke0102's Avatar
      duke0102 -
      @Appzalien
      I still like Vista but I did something called 'moving with the times'. Maybe the OS wasn't the problem but old PC can't handle it?
    1. Appzalien's Avatar
      Appzalien -
      I don't mind the Vista GUI much I use the 64bit. But I don't do anything with it but play games so its no big deal. I just do not like the direction MS is going with the new GUI's. I really think that's what made XP what it ended up, and why it was so popular. Three of the PC's I own have 1year old mobo's with quad and dual core AMD procs but I still use XP, and on one I have XP64 (for the memory boost, its a video record and edit PC).
      One of the reasons I dislike 7 so much (more like MS so much) is when I was using the pre release of 7 they had changed the Windows Explorer in a way that if you wanted to cut or copy 25 rar files from the right side of explorer to another folder, as you highlighted the files the entire line of the window highlighted not just the names. That often meant you had to slide the window over to the far right to highlight a group and from the far right it was impossible to see the names of the files and to determine where to start and stop your collection. Someone came up with a registry edit that you could use to get back to just the name highlighted and I was happy as a clam. Unfortunately, MS in its infinite wisdumb decided to fix it so you could not use that registry fix in the final release. Why? Why in the world would they prevent you from having an easy way to copy and paste and to be able to see what your coping and pasting? That really pissed me off and put me over the fence when it came to hating 7 and basically MS in general, they're morons.
    1. duke0102's Avatar
      duke0102 -
      So if I get this right, you dislike windows 7 'cos when you select some files in detailed view mode it highlights the line instead just the name? I hope I'm misreading that cos that'd be lame.
      I love it when people say 'don't do anything with it but play games' 'cos that's one of the most demanding things you can do with a pc lmao
    1. buggyfresh's Avatar
      buggyfresh -
      Well I use xp at work, win7 at home - win7 wins now! Just been trying ie9..FF4 still beats it up but i will try ie10 for kicks