Google to axe IE 8 support, cuts off Windows XP lifeline
Waves goodbye to old Microsoft browser on 15 November
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Google confirmed late last week that it would soon be killing off support for Microsoft's now aged browser, Internet Explorer 8, which also means it no longer gives a stuff about Windows XP hold-outs.
The company said in a blog post on Friday that it would discontinue support for IE 8 on 15 November, claiming the move was prompted by the forthcoming arrival of IE 10 on 26 October.
However, IE 8, which launched in March 2009, was also the final MS browser to support Redmond's 11-year-old workhorse operating system that refuses to die: Windows XP.
All of which means Google has finally signalled that it no longer cares about XP customers who want to continue to use Google products such as its cloudy apps service.
Google explained the reasoning behind its decision by pointing out that it was standard procedure for the Chocolate Factory to part company with the third-oldest version of a browser.
Version 9, which is currently the most recent major release of Internet Explorer – but will in October become its second-oldest release – will continue to be supported after the arrival of IE 10.
And just one month later, IE 8 support will be tossed out by Google.
Of course, it was Microsoft and not Google that ultimately abandoned Windows XP users by not providing support for them in either IE 9 or the soon-to-be-released IE 10.
In other words, XP stick-in-the-muds need to finally get with the programme and stop behaving like we're still living in a pre-Facebook-Twitter-iPad 2001. There's arguably a big problem with that, however, given how many people (still swaggering around a 39 per cent global usage figure at the last count) continue to run that OS on their computers. ®
COMMENTS
Misleading as ever
Google has not abandoned XP users at all. It has abandoned all the numpties who are daft enough to be using IE. Anyone with the brains to have switched to another browser like firefox or chrome will be just fine.
Silly old google!
IE8 is not the latest-but-2 version for XP users - it's the latest! And it does seem silly to cut off support for 39% of the planet...XP works perfectly well for an awful lot of people, who do normal everyday computery-type things on their computers (bit of browsing, bit of word-processing, spreadsheets etc), and who leave their stalking activities (if any) for their mobiles.
XP isn't the latest, but maybe the best
The problem, Mr TheNog, is that XP is without much doubt the best desk/laptop O/S Microsoft ever produced; Vista was unmentionable, Win 7 can be made to work just about as well as XP by switching off as many "improvements" as possible, and all that has been revealed about Win 8 makes it clear that it needs to be avoided at all costs. So I expect people to stick with XP as long as they possibly can.
Not that it matters if you just want to use Google for what it's good at and ignore all *their* "improvements.
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