Microsoft does NOT always know what is best for MY machines.
Until I encounter fewer sites that have not upgraded their site to be IE9 compatible, IE9 will not be loaded on any of my computers. As for your thoughts about out-of-date programs, IE6 should have been planted in its grave long ago. IE 8 is not yet 'out of date'. This TimelineX laptop was purchased three weeks ago and IE 8 is the native-installed browser. Date of manfacture for this machine was May 2011. I've encountered 23 websites that will not load under IE9 but will under IE8 and that tells me that IE 8 STILL has the legs to keep going until IE 9 reliability has improved.