Google has pulled the plug on Internet Explorer 9 from Google Apps including Business, Education, and Government editions just weeks after Microsoft released Internet Explorer 11.
Announcing its decision through Google Apps blog, Google revealed that it has stopped all “testing and engineering work related to Internet Explorer 9 (IE9), as Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) was released on 17 October 2013.”
All those accessing Google services including Gmail and Google Apps using Internet Explorer 9.0 will be served with a notification message that they are required to upgrade to the latest supported browser. This will be done either “through an in-product notification message or interstitial pages with information about modern browsers and how to upgrade to them.”
This is strictly in accordance with Google’s policy as it notes that “Each time a new version of one of these browsers is released, we begin supporting the update and stop supporting the third-oldest version.”
Internet Explorer has been around for over 2 and a half years now and recently the browser’s share has been on a decline indicating that less and less number of users are actually using the browser.
Those using Google Chrome need not worry as their browsers are automatically updated, but a manual upgrade is required by users using Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer.