Apparently IE9 was downloaded 2.3 million times during the first 24 hours since it was published. That seems like a big number, but looks definitely puny in comparison with the over 8 million downloads of Firefox 3 during launch day.

Internet Explorer 9 is marred by intentional lack of compatibility with Windows XP, which Microsoft is trying their customers to abandon for Vista-la-land: Vista and the revamped/renamed Vista: Windows7.

Firefox, in contrast works beautifully and dependably on Windows, including XP, and also on Linux and Mac. Firefox is expected to be releasing the much awaited for Firefox 4 within days . You are probably better off downloading that.

If you don't want to clog your computer with more bloatware, you are advised to turn off automatic software upgrades and toggle the "ask first" option, if you are still using some new version of Microsoft Windows, as Microsoft is going to try to coerce users into IE9 adoption using software updates.

HTML 5 support seems to be partial in IE9, and still in the usual Microsoft marketing promiseware/smokeware stage: in the meantime don't hold your breath and download a real browser somewhere else.