You realize IE8 is the default browser that shipped with Windows 7, right?

I fail to see your reasoning. IE6 was (I believe) the default in Windows XP, which people are still using. Should we demand that JQuery support every default browser on every default OS until they're all end-of-lifed?

My point is that it isn't just the browser for an ancient os that's about to be EOL. It's also the browser for the current OS. Some people seem to mistakenly think Win 7 shipped with IE9

And I didn't demand anyone do anything. I think the proposed jquery plan is totally appropriate.

Yes.

What, nobody uses Windows update?

yes, a lot of people (generally the people who don't know what a browser is) don't. Also IE8 is the last available browser on winXP.

That's hardly the point - the original poster was complaining about the default browser on Windows 7.

Except for Chrome, Opera and Firefox, you mean?

Oh come on - this is voted down?

Firefox and Chrome do automatic updates, and almost never has issues. That's because they stick to standards in an open and transparent manner. Why wouldn't Windows Update be able to do the same thing? Are the Microsoft software developers really that bad that they can't do what the Chrome and Firefox developers can do already?

This grates me.. I'm sure the MS devs are more than capable of doing what Chrome / Firefox "do already".

This looks far more likely to be a political decision to avoid whatever backlash even a single failed update would produce.

Help, i've lost all 93 of my open tabs..

Sure most people do

It makes more sense to use the dates they were superseded, than to use the dates when they came out. Most new computers were still shipping Windows XP until Windows Vista came out in 2007. That's just over five years ago.