People seem to think that Microsoft will Double Down on HTML5 With Internet Explorer 9. If this is true, and they can deliver, then all the power to them.
But we should expect Microsoft to go on the offensive at its upcoming MIX 2010 developer conference in Las Vegas, where, it has been speculated, the company will demonstrate the first beta builds of Internet Explorer 9 and possibly offer a preview release of the browser to developers. Several clues point to the possibility that the next version of IE will include broad support for HTML5 elements, vector graphics and emerging CSS standards.
However, MS seems a bit big of a company to steer on such an altered course, and what about all that talk of people relying on HTML widgets (I know that a 2 year old accounting program I use has an IE widget in it that's broken on Windows 7)? Hey, if they can do it and make a clean break and not keep one foot in the IE6/7/8 world with some sort of funky backwards compatible engine, all the power to them. Course, if they're going to make a clean break, maybe why not just use the mozilla or webkit engines? I know it's NIMBY and all that, but why re-re-re-reinvent the wheel (again)?