I'm not defending Microsoft's actions, nor the level of standards-compliance and modernity of IE9 as actually being delivered. I'm just saying that their description of their process -- see what's actually being used out there, and talk to a bunch of web developers about what they'd like to be added -- is perfectly sensible and not at all "arse about". Whether they're being honest in describing the process, and whether they're executing the process well, are completely separate questions.
The thing is, most web developers don’t learn technologies which are not supported yet, authors don’t write books about them, neat abstractions aren’t built on top of them, etc. etc. So there’s this huge chicken-and-egg problem.
For MS to say “we’ll start supporting this technology once you start using it”.... well....
IE9 is supporting virtually everything in the standard, and the standard isn't even finalized yet. It seems like you're the guy complaining that not everyone supports 'export', while ignoring all the rest that is supported.
I'm not defending Microsoft's actions, nor the level of standards-compliance and modernity of IE9 as actually being delivered. I'm just saying that their description of their process -- see what's actually being used out there, and talk to a bunch of web developers about what they'd like to be added -- is perfectly sensible and not at all "arse about". Whether they're being honest in describing the process, and whether they're executing the process well, are completely separate questions.