Google is phasing out support for Internet Explorer 6

While many smaller businesses have stopped supporting the legacy browsers a while ago it’s now time for major players to follow that route too. Yesterday Google announced in its Official Google Enterprise Blog that since 1st of March 2010 they won’t support Internet Explorer 6 any longer in their web applications.

Looking at it as someone who works with online applications on daily basis it’s certainly good news. Maybe now, finally, some of the people who never had the motivation to upgrade will go ahead and get it done. After all, it’s not that hard to upgrade. In fact, Microsoft should push newer versions of Internet Explorer to all users who are still running IE6 through their automatic updates.

Weirdly enough it seems like it’s not all that easy to upgrade for all the people. Especially for people who are working for some major corporation where the IT department still hasn’t taken the decision to move on from the security hole called Internet Explorer 6. Personally I’ve never really got what’s the big deal – let your employees choose what browser to use (as long as it’s up to date). Sure you would need to make sure that the updates are available for your users and you need to hold their hand on some cases. Then again if a user chooses their own browser, it’s rather safe to assume that they already have some experience with their chosen browser.

How to upgrade?

If you still happen to use one of the older browsers then just go ahead and do it right away. It’s easy and safe to upgrade.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Certainly a better browser than the ancient Internet Explorer 6 or even Internet Explorer 7. Safe choice if you’re used to Internet Explorer and don’t want to try anything else.
Download Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox is second most popular browser in the world. If you dare to start using anything else except Internet Explorer then this is would be your first choice. Firefox also has an excellent selection of add-ons that enhance the browser in great length. My personal favourite.
Download Mozilla Firefox.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is one of the fastest browsers around. When you’re a long time Internet Explorer user then the simplistic approach might be a bit strange. All in all, it’s a good browser that will run your web applications really fast. That’s why I mostly use it myself – to run applications that use some heavy Javascript.
Download Google Chrome.

Apple Safari

If you’re a Mac user then most probably you’ve used Safari at least some point in your past. It’s fast and has some nice features that you might like. Even though I’m a Mac user I still prefer Mozilla Firefox on daily basis and Google Chrome to run some online applications.
Download Apple Safari.

Opera

Even though Opera market share is small it’s still a fine browser to use. It’s fast and reliable and has excellent support for web standards. (Thanks to Raul for noticing that it was missing).
Download Opera

So go ahead and choose your upgrade. Anything in the previous list is better than the old and soon to be retired Internet Explorer 6.

Martin Kivi

Martin is the Founder and CEO of PerfectLine. He is passionate about front end development, user interface design and building awesome products. He will be your first point of contact here at PerfectLine.