Google has announced that it will be phasing out support for older browsers beginning August 1 and it will start with the loss of certain features, but it will eventually turn into loss of those web services altogether. Google wants to take full advantage of HTML5 technology and older browsers such as Internet Explorer 7, Safari 3, Firefox 3.5 and their predecessors just don’t have the capability to do so…………
Google is moving forward to stop the use of aging browsers which can be insecure and not sophisticated enough to handle the latest web technologies. Statistics on browser versions gathered by StatCounter say that about 17 percent need to change in the light of Google‘s decision. The announcement was made in Google’s blogpost, saying its engineers were keen to make use of the latest capabilities in browsers and that required support for HTML5 technology. From August 1st Google will only support what it calls modern browsers. Only the latest versions and major prior releases of Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari will be able to use the functions that Google offers. Google will only do compatibility testing with more up-to-date browsers. It will make not test with older programs and can make guarantees that Web services will work with them. Venkat Panchapakesan, vice president of engineering at Google, wrote in the BlogSpot “These new browsers are more than just a modern convenience; they are a necessity for what the future holds.” Mozilla, which oversees development of Firefox, has likewise kicked off a plan to get the 12 million or so people using version 3.5 of its browser to update, claiming it was frustrated with efforts to get people to upgrade and had taken a series of steps to force change. Using pop-up screens, adverts, re-directs and updates the company attempted to steer people towards more recent versions of Firefox. Figures suggest the campaign has had some success, as the number of users on Firefox 3.5 has now dropped to about one million. Microsoft‘s campaign to stop people using Internet Explorer 6 is one of the longest running upgrade efforts. The software giant has used its automatic update system to get newer versions of its browser out to many users.
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