IE10: Don't cry for me, Windows Vista

Signaling that Microsoft is ready to move beyond one of its more forgettable releases, the next version of Internet Explorer that debuted at the MIX11 conference in Las Vegas earlier this week will not run on the Windows Vista operating system.

The move may be a surprise considering Vista as an operating system is a little over four years old. Support for Windows XP, launched in 2001, only ended with IE9 as the company claimed the operating system lacked the technologies necessary to operate the browser.

So what's the reasoning for Vista's early exit? It's not exactly clear. Computerworld's Gregg Keizer, one of the first to report on the decision Wednesday, said that the company claimed some of the same reasons for ending support of Vista with IE10 as it had for XP and IE9.

"Our decision with IE9 was not to build to the lowest common denominator," a Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews on its decision to end support of Vista in IE10. "Windows Vista customers have a great browsing experience with IE9, but in building IE10 we are focused on continuing to drive the kind of innovation that only happens when you take advantage of the ongoing improvements in modern operating systems and modern hardware."

Is it as big of an issue, though? Probably not. According to NetApplication's HitsLink, as of March 2011 Vista was only used by 10.56 percent of web users. Contrast this with the 54.39 percent still on Windows XP, and you can see that far more were affected by the decision to keep XP users relegated to a browsing experience on Internet Explorer 8.

This same data shows that a little over 24 percent of web users are now on Windows 7, which right now would be the only commercially available Microsoft platform able to run IE10.

Does Microsoft's decision to abandon support for Vista on its modern browsers bother you? We're taking an informal poll of Betanews readers to gauge their opinions, and will share them in a followup to today's story.