Microsoft has officially released Internet Explorer 9. Not a beta, not a release candidate, but the real deal. You’ll recall that a Mozilla rep had already spoken out against it a few weeks ago, saying that it was not a “modern browser.” GPU acceleration and a fancy new user interface would suggest otherwise, but there’s no need to get into a browser fight. Use what you like, I say. One of the big features of Internet Explorer 9 is the lack of Windows XP support. It’s a bold move, considering how many people still run that ancient operating system. (If XP still works for you then by all means enjoy yourself, but do you really expect Microsoft to continue to support a 10-year-old OS? Also the browser’s platform preview requires Direct2D, an API available only with  Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008. IE9 uses Direct2D to hardware-accelerate HTML5-based scrolling and 3D graphics, handing such processing to the machine’s GPU. Direct2D was introduced with Windows 7, and it was later rolled into Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server
2008 R2.

According to the team, Windows XP users have a fast, safe, reliable and private browser in Internet Explorer 8,” company representatives said in an emailed statement. “As the Web has continued to change in everything from security to the future HTML5 applications developers are starting to build today, browsers should require the modern graphics and security infrastructure that has come along since 2001. Internet Explorer 9 requires the modern graphics and security underpinnings that have come since 2001, and is intended to be run on a modern operating system in order to build on the latest hardware and operating system innovations.”

Also for your information, read this too Windows XP End Of Support