Hats off to Google for pulling it off. Windows XP and IE6/7/8/9 must die.
Though the way Chrome or latest Firefox automatically update themselves may cause IT support staff lots of sleepless nights. The old-school two/three year updating cycle in Windows sysadmin may face unprecedented challenges. I envision the devops sysadmin style and chef-like configuration management and automated environment testing may come to rescue in the Microsoft shops in the near future.
It won't matter (as much) for Firefox, as Mozilla have an 'extended support' version for Enterprises. It used to be 3.6, but recently it moved to 10. As the 'enterprise' version uses a different update stream, the only updates will be security updates. They stick with the major version for a year, and provide a twelve-week 'migration' window where both ESRs are supported [0]
Though the way Chrome or latest Firefox automatically update themselves may cause IT support staff lots of sleepless nights. The old-school two/three year updating cycle in Windows sysadmin may face unprecedented challenges. I envision the devops sysadmin style and chef-like configuration management and automated environment testing may come to rescue in the Microsoft shops in the near future.