Google to drop support for IE7, Firefox 3.5, Safari 3

[Emil]

Google is very serious about supporting only browser that it considers to be "modern." As such, the search giant recently announced that it is only going to support the current and prior major release of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari on a rolling basis. Each time a new version is released, the company will begin supporting the update and stop supporting the third-oldest version.

As of August 1, 2011, Google will discontinue support for the following browsers and their predecessors: Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3.5, and Safari 3. In these older browsers you may have trouble using certain features in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs, and Google Sites. The company also said that eventually these apps may stop working entirely in older browsers.

Google also made a point to recommend that you upgrade to the latest version of your favorite browser. The company specifically lists four browsers to choose from, in a very specific (alphabetical) order: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. Opera is notably missing from the list.

"For web applications to spring even farther ahead of traditional software, our teams need to make use of new capabilities available in modern browsers," a Google spokespersons said in a statement. "For example, desktop notifications for Gmail and drag-and-drop file upload in Google Docs require advanced browsers that support HTML5. Older browsers just don’t have the chops to provide you with the same high-quality experience. As the world moves more to the web, these new browsers are more than just a modern convenience, they are a necessity for what the future holds."

This is hardly the first time Google has waged war on older browsers. In January 2009, the company urged IE6 Gmail users to switch to Firefox or Chrome. In July 2009, YouTube began displaying a banner to warn IE6 users that the service will soon be phasing out support for the browser. This week's decision by Google is much more vicious as doesn't just target older versions of Internet Explorer, but of Firefox and Safari as well.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/44076-google-to-drop-support-for-ie7-firefox-35-safari-3.html

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

1) Isn't it bad for business not to support these browsers? 2) Why would you use an older version of a browser anyway?

 

[Guest]

I'm using FF4, but what's wrong with IE7 ?

 

[Leeky]

I'm guessing with IE8 and now IE9, there is no need to offer support for yet another MS browser, as you can cover all current OS' with those two MS browsers alone.

 

[Guest]

Anyone who can run IE7 can run IE8, no problem there.

Regarding Firefox, hopefully this will get my 3.5 friends to move to 4.0. Most haven't done it because of laziness, though some haven't done it due to add-on compatibility.

Which is nice when most of what I would use for add-ons is in Opera. But Google wouldn't want to muddy the pool with ANOTHER alternative browser! I mean, most people have a hard enough time keeping track of ONE ("I click the blue thing for Internet."), so two was already a big push ("I heard about this thing called Firefox that makes my Internet faster"). Suddenly, THREE ("Hey, I use Google for my Internet!").

...Yeah. Poor Opera.

I have no words for Safari.

 

[Guest]

I dunno about IE7 & Safari 3 but whyy Firefox 3.5? Actually I'm using v3.5 and v4 of Firefox on two different machines and I still prefer FF 3.5 over FF 4. I don't think they should phase out Firefox 3.5 yet. Though its not the latest its not old enough to be left behind IMO.

 

[mario]

For those using FF 3.5 just upgrade to 3.6 and be happy

 

[Jibberish18]

Guest said:
I dunno about IE7 & Safari 3 but whyy Firefox 3.5? Actually I'm using v3.5 and v4 of Firefox on two different machines and I still prefer FF 3.5 over FF 4. I don't think they should phase out Firefox 3.5 yet. Though its not the latest its not old enough to be left behind IMO.

What about 3.5 do you prefer? I see some people using older software and sometimes it is because the newer software doesn't perform as well as the old but honestly most of the time it's stubbornness it seems like.

 

[Det]

The News said:
Each time a new version is released, the company will begin supporting the update and stop supporting the third-oldest version.

You mean the third-latest one?

 

[Guest]

If you're still keeping up with tech using old browser ****, then I really don't know why you're here.
Kudos to Google.

 

[tonylukac]

They just want you to go to Chrome so people are sympathetic to their Chromium OS. I will say that Firefox is very familiar when switching to linux. Altho I have not had this experience, a friend tells me a website he uses still only renders on IE6. Go figure.

 

[Guest]

I have tree browsers: IE6, Opera 11 and Firefox 3.6

I have not updated IE6, because I usually use Opera or Firefox, then I reserve IE6 for backward compatibility. What one browser of these do not show me, another does...

In the future, I'm going to update Opera and Firefox.

(Of course, I also tested Chrome and Safari, but these didn't qualify for my choice).

 

[tw0rld]

This is may be the first time that I have ever agreed with Google on anything. It is a pain-staking job to develop content for older browsers. I hope more developers and companies will go in this direction. We can't continue to support unsafe outdated software which, proves to be more of an hassle, each time the technology evolves.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Yeah well with HTML5 support rapidly improving, they're just trying to embrace the whole "regularly incrementally update" mantra that seems to be being adopted. Google is *one* company that can pressure the market to do that. IE, Firefox and Chrome are tightening release cycles as well (all now 14 weeks or less I believe).

 

[gobbybobby]

I disagree with googles approach, alot of people still use IE 7. Im using it right now in College, I doubt IT will upgrade it anytime soon, they have never updated UDK, still on a version from last year meaning can't use later versions at home.

''view this page faster with Google Chrome''

''this page looks better in Firefox''

''This webpage is designed for IE9


Loads of webistes have messages like above on them^

and I don't like it.

 

[Guest]

2 reasons that I'm using an older browser is 1) no administrative access to pc at work 2) Older Mac at home which the latest version of Firefox will not run on.

People say buy a new Mac however Apple has not updated the hardware in the Mac Pro in over 2 years. So it makes no sense to but an outdated machine