I agree with you, Tony — but the world is better for it. If Microsoft can finally get in with everyone else as opposed to trying to rule the game by making people design around them, I’m all for it. Makes web designers lose less hair.
That said, I think that they had best jump fully into the extensions game if they want to compete. I am not likely to abandon Chrome without my extensions — unless IE9 is so blazingly fast that it makes Chrome look like it’s at a standstill.