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Google tells Gmail users it’s time to kick the Internet Explorer 6 habit

5 Jan 2009

Thank you Google. The all-knowing Jedi masters at Google have gone so far as to advise their Gmail users to cease using the dreaded Internet Explorer 6, in favor of “upgrading” to Firefox 3 or their own Chrome browser (no mention of Apple’s Safari). A step Apple took when they unveiled their MobileMe suite (an update to their .Mac offerings) back in June of 2008.

Google claims that their recommended browsers are capable of running the Gmail app “twice as fast” as IE 6 and have gone so far as to add the outdated browser in question to their “unsupported Gmail browser list”. Their supported browser list does in fact include Safari.

All this doesn’t change the fact thousands upon thousands of small, medium and large businesses are still naive enough to be running the outdated browser that was launched in 2002 and last updated in 2006. But hopefully by Google and other major software and application developers ceasing to waste time supporting the browser and encouraging their users to take the step to upgrade their browsers, the world will soon be rid of what may be Microsoft’s all-time worst contribution to society.