The title of the post is nothing but bad news for Windows XP users. Microsoft, while talking to The Register about the just rolled out IE9 Beta confirmed that the hardware accelerated Internet Explorer 9 won’t see daylight on Windows XP powered PCs. It’s as if Microsoft wants Firefox and Chrome to increase their individual browser market share.

IE 9 Beta

Here is what Ryan Gavin, senior director of IE business and marketing said regarding this matter :

Microsoft would not put IE9 hardware acceleration features in the current version of its browser, IE8, or back port IE9 to older PCs running Windows XP.

There is no doubt that the IE9 contains Windows 7 specific features such as Jump Lists. But that doesn’t mean you want to leave out the Windows XP population who holds 53 per cent of operating system market share. And it’s not like hardware acceleration can’t be provided for Windows XP users. Firefox and Chrome already provide hardware acceleration support for Microsoft’s most popular operating system to date.