With the RC versions released for IE9 & FF4, the formal version are expected to be release on 3/14/2011 and 3/13/2011. For MS, IE9 represents a flight back to ascendancy and respectability after getting smoked in terms of performance for years by 4 browsers. By far, it will become the most improved of the browsers if only because it was the worst to begin with. For FF4, this has been one that took a long time to develop and roll out the most versatile browser on the market. No company can boast its browser can work on so many operating systems-FF did it. Googles claim in releasing a minimalist browser to boast its speed was briefly lived, but has ended. it's ease of use has now be surpassed by both FF and MS. For Safari, it only means MS has finally put its money where its mouth is and not only passed it in terms of speed, but also loaded it with more useful feature that Safari may not be able to match for years. For Opera fans, well, the people who could put some muscle and had the means have set a higher standard that will be difficult to match for hardware acceleration.
That said, as a MacBook Pro user that uses Leopard and Window 7, in terms of performance I see IE9 and FF4 RC as the best browsers on the market by far and replacing Chrome. The main attraction Chrome had, was its speed, streamlined appearance and minimalist approach. It also enabled a few features on a Mac to work that IE9 and FF4 still cannot.
What MS has done is throw a lot of money at something and successfully developed significantly better software. I don't know if they stole the ideas from other companies or their programming as only time will tell on that, but they did it. For FF, the problem they have, despite delivering, the length of time it took to release this one, was important, but painful. It has seen its market share erode during this development and watched it's users migrate to Chrome.
All in all, then there is the question of why MS decided to abandon its XP users. XP is still a stabler and more robust system and can out perform Vista. Clearly MS feels those users will never change and FF is targeting them to gain further market share. I personally feel that strategy will backfire on MS. Those on more primitive computers and O/S, as few as they are seemed destined to be swept up by FF because MS has abandoned them also. A leap from IE6 to FF4 will be a supercharged user for sure.
For FF, they could not accomplish all they originally planned to release. So, they have laid the foundation to implement those remaining goals in later releases during the year. They do need to get those done ASAP to get the excitement back in.
As a MacBook Pro user who uses Snow Leopard and Window 7, I rank the browsers as follows.
1) FF4 RC1
2) IE9 RC1
3) Chrome
4) Opera
5) Safari
MS claims on hardware acceleration does not test out and flat out misleading. I gave FF4 the edge because it has more useful add-ons and is more versatile. Does Chrome do things IE9 and FF4 cannot..you bet. But, it's a minimalist browser that is that way because it scarified that to obtain speed. Now that IE9 and FF4 are out, those few features are all they have.
Going back, regarding XP users, I view myself as being a power user on XP. The only reason why I have Windows 7 on my Mac instead of XP is because I got it from a computer course I took. I can only guess the MS strategy to abandon them is the belief that the more sophisticated users would have already left for the earlier FF or Chrome version and those remain would still be forced to leave IE8, IE7 and IE6 on their computers and they still get credit while trying to force those users to buy a new computer and upgrade.
My feeling is, if you help a person when its hard times or keep them going, they will tend to stay with you longer and build a loyal following because they are already use to using FF
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