Google officially announced this weekend that they are dropping support for Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). Since the launch of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) in 2006 and again with Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) in 2009 we had hoped that this antiquated browser would go away, but people still use it. Less than 10% of visitors to our website still use IE6 and we have fewer accounts with a customer base that require their website be IE6 compatible. We have tried to do our part to educate and move people forward to more modern browsers by using browser detection scripts that notify IE6 users to please upgrade
Introduced in 2001, IE6 has become renowned for its vulnerabilities and does not measure up to today’s website standards. It has therefore been a nuisance to designers and developers. A lot of extra development time and jerry-rigging are required to make websites compatible with this browser.
Google is not picking solely on Microsoft. They are urging everyone to use more modern browsers. They list that people using browsers older than Firefox 3, Google Chrome 4 and Safari 3 may also find that key functionality within Google Doc and Google Sites won’t work.
Many companies, including ours, had already begun taking steps to abandon IE6. We want this browser to go away. We don’t believe Microsoft even wants it around anymore. Up until now all the big players have chosen to placate IE6 users by continuing to offer compatible websites. Up until this weekend the choice to upgrade has been left to the user. Google’s announcement won’t simply impact IE6 users who utilize Google Docs and Google Sites. More companies will begin stopping support for IE6 citing that if Google isn’t going to support the browser, then it is time they stop too.
If you are using Internet Explorer 6, you know your time has come. Change is hard. You’ve done your best to avoid it, but you knew this day would come eventually. Take a moment to upgrade your browser; you’ll be glad you did.
For those who have upgraded – do you know what your customer base is using to visit your website? When was the last time you checked your website in a browser other than your computer’s default. Make sure your website can work in today’s modern browsers.
If you need help upgrading your browser or you want to make sure your website is compatible with today’s modern browsers, then please contact us – Better Your Website.
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/01/modern-browsers-for-modern-applications.html
Tags: browsers, google, homepost, internet explorer