Google Killing Off IE9 Support for Gmail, Apps

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
Messages
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Sign of the times: Google will no longer support what the company considers to be an outdated browser. Notifications will be start going out to the IE9 browser users within the next few weeks.

IE9’s being cut loose because Microsoft released IE11 in October, meaning Google will now only make sure its apps work with IE11 and IE10.
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Aren't XP users still limited to IE9?

So Google thinks it's going to drop everyone who is still using XP?
 
There isn't much Google does right these days. While I avoid IE like the plague, their product managers are about as sharp as jello.
 
Although I don't use IE, this makes no sense. If IE9 currently works with Google's various apps then the only way for it to no longer work is for Google to deliberately break something -- they will have to deliberately change their stuff so that IE 9 no longer works.

WTF?
 
GotNoRice said:
So Google thinks it's going to drop everyone who is still using XP?
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If those XP users using IE have already been dropped as DarkStar alluded to see IE8 is the highest version support in XP. While XP will be around for many for sometime I think that we're going to start to see significant shrinkage of XP use coming next year and particularly after official support ends. There are just so many nice and inexpensive Windows 8 devices starting to come out now that are so much better than the clunkers running XP.
 
GotNoRice said:
Aren't XP users still limited to IE9?

So Google thinks it's going to drop everyone who is still using XP?
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XP is limited to IE8, which Google dropped support for over a year ago. So if Windows XP users are your concern, you're a little late to the party. But Chrome and Firefox are supported on Windows XP anyway.
 
IE10 speaks better html/css/js than IE9 so it's kind of understandable, though completely artificial. Google isn't fooling anyone.
 
With Android's adoption in the mobile arena Google probably feels that mobile is the future and they can cut Microsoft out so Google is trying to kill off support for ANY Microsoft product.
 
GotNoRice said:
Aren't XP users still limited to IE9?

So Google thinks it's going to drop everyone who is still using XP?
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As it's been said XP only supported IE8. The only one stuck on 9 is vista users. It still is a significant amount of users though, 10% of the IE users are still using 9.

XP users can use Chrome, till April 2015, or Firefox indefinitely.
 
I'm not seeing a big loss in this. It'll probably still work okay and if it doesn't, it'll just be one more reason to get away from Google's offering of a service in exchange for the right to spy on you. Maybe more people will start using a not creepy mail service from a company that didn't set itself up to operate in a way that forces it to sell its users out to survive.
 
All of the DoD/Army's systems are still IE8/IE9 only, lol. Looks like I won't be using Gmail at work for a while as I'm not even sure they've started allowing us to test IE10 yet. This is pretty messed up on Google's part, there's no reason to explicitly block IE9 other than to further drive a wedge between Google and Microsoft. :mad:
 
T4rd said:
All of the DoD/Army's systems are still IE8/IE9 only, lol. Looks like I won't be using Gmail at work for a while as I'm not even sure they've started allowing us to test IE10 yet. This is pretty messed up on Google's part, there's no reason to explicitly block IE9 other than to further drive a wedge between Google and Microsoft. :mad:
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Or maybe they want to redesign some shit on Gmail and IE9 doesn't support it. I'm sure they've weighed it against their internal numbers showing Gmail usage amongst older browsers.

If they felt they were alienating a meaningful number of users, they wouldn't be doing it.
 
pankkake said:
It's already scary that they even use Windows.
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You think Mac or Linux would be better for all of our workstations? I think policy enforcement, imaging, and patching would be a nightmare without SCCM and a proper domain.
 
NKDietrich said:
If they felt they were alienating a meaningful number of users, they wouldn't be doing it.
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Tell that to all the people that used Google Reader, Outlook calendar sync, Google SMS, and iGoogle. They pissed off a lot of people by ending those services.
 
Sheesh, IE9 needs to die for the most part.

Do you all still use other software that is how many generations old?

You think companies should just keep supporting outdated versions of software?

If you personally had some setup and it took a whole bunch of extra money to support some outdated version of some other company's software, would you do it?

And it really just sounds like they are not making IE9 not work. IT just means that they are not going to waste their time making sure it will work.
 
cyclone3d said:
Sheesh, IE9 needs to die for the most part.

Do you all still use other software that is how many generations old?

You think companies should just keep supporting outdated versions of software?

If you personally had some setup and it took a whole bunch of extra money to support some outdated version of some other company's software, would you do it?

And it really just sounds like they are not making IE9 not work. IT just means that they are not going to waste their time making sure it will work.
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It's not that old. It only came out in 2011. They just aren't interested in supporting more than two versions at any given time.
 
Wow, blaming Google for Microsoft's refusal to supply updates to it's browser across it's own Operating Systems. All the other browsers auto-update and go back to the OS's still supported from Microsoft. It's Microsoft's fault they are fragmenting their own users in hopes to push their newer systems.
 
Why is this even a topic? Google is dropping app support for ie9, Windows is on version 11. Nothing will stop working, might be a bit buggy but why anyone would need to stick to version 9 is beyond me.
 
Ryokurin said:
It's not that old. It only came out in 2011. They just aren't interested in supporting more than two versions at any given time.
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A browser from 2011 is *old*

But I don't get what the problem is anyway - just update to a newer version of IE if you want to use IE? Or use Firefox, or Chrome, or Safari, or Opera. There's really no reason Google should support 2 year old versions of IE, just update your shit already. Then again, this seems to only pose an issue for IE users. Firefox users aren't clamoring for Google to keep supporting a version from 2 years ago. Neither are Opera or Safari users.
 
kllrnohj said:
A browser from 2011 is *old*

But I don't get what the problem is anyway - just update to a newer version of IE if you want to use IE? Or use Firefox, or Chrome, or Safari, or Opera. There's really no reason Google should support 2 year old versions of IE, just update your shit already. Then again, this seems to only pose an issue for IE users. Firefox users aren't clamoring for Google to keep supporting a version from 2 years ago. Neither are Opera or Safari users.
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That's the thing. They do. Google supports Firefox from 4 and above and Opera around the same vintage, although they state they only support the current and previous version. That's all I'm pointing out, they are only interested in following policy to the letter when it comes to Microsoft.
 
kllrnohj said:
A browser from 2011 is *old*

But I don't get what the problem is anyway - just update to a newer version of IE if you want to use IE?
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The only issue with that is for people that use older OSs. 9 is the highest version you can do in Vista, and XP is behind that even. That may be old for a typical user here, but there are a lot of businesses that are not quick to update things... not to say that is a good thing either, but it will effect people.
 
Dropping IE9 will enable Google to start using the History API, which is fundamental to improving the user experience in SPAs (permitting stateful navigation using standard URLs). The ubiquity of the feature is important, and Microsoft blew their IE9 development wad on Canvas rendering performance as a headline feature. The opportunity to start using the File API and IndexedDB/WebSQL more pervasively also comes in with IE9 being dropped, as 9 supports none of these.

As browsers go, IE9 is ready to be taken into the shed and shot, and has been for some time.

Ryokurin said:
It's not that old. It only came out in 2011. They just aren't interested in supporting more than two versions at any given time.
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Two years is an eternity for web browsers. Even Apple lets Safari linger too long with its ~yearly major releases — it's just too long given how quickly advancements in web technologies happen.
 
Ryokurin said:
That's the thing. They do. Google supports Firefox from 4 and above and Opera around the same vintage, although they state they only support the current and previous version. That's all I'm pointing out, they are only interested in following policy to the letter when it comes to Microsoft.
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The policy is:

"We support the latest version of Google Chrome (which automatically updates whenever it detects that a new version of the browser is available). We support the current and previous major releases of Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari on a rolling basis. Each time a new version is released, we begin supporting that version and stop supporting the third most recent version."

So no, Firefox from 2011 is not supported. Hell, Firefox from 3 months ago isn't supported. If old versions of Firefox still work, it's just because old versions of Firefox still had good web standards support.

Google is applying the *exact same policy* to IE as it does to Safari and Firefox. And it holds its own browser to an even stricter policy.

jhambi said:
The only issue with that is for people that use older OSs. 9 is the highest version you can do in Vista, and XP is behind that even. That may be old for a typical user here, but there are a lot of businesses that are not quick to update things... not to say that is a good thing either, but it will effect people.
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That's Microsoft's fault, not Google's. Nobody else has dropped Vista or XP support for their browsers.
 
This has nothing to do with how old IE9 is people get real. How long did google support IE6 way freaking past when even MS was trying like crazy to get people off of it. Google has finally after years of trying come to the point where they have significant power through gmail and android and now is the time when they are going to start leveraging that power. Now they are going to nag you constantly about how you need to switch to chrome, it has nothing to do with IE9. Google has been running around on a rampage for the last year or so breaking compatibility on purpose with MS products and services because they feel they have enough of a user base to do so now. And on top of that they are constantly pulling all sorts of BS that used to be why google was better than other competitors. Like now I see up to 3 ads at top of search results. I am constantly nagged about joining google plus, or switching to chrome. Android phones are set to default to uploading peoples pictures and junk to plus, and google talk miraculously lost damn near all its basic functionality to make it hangouts just so google can force more people into google plus.
 
Seems a little early to dump IE9. Until a month ago we where stuck on IE9 due to some older software (actually Microsoft software) that didn't work correctly with IE10. Luckily we finally upgraded (after lots of pain recreating the customizations), so I can finally dump IE9.

Now if I can only dump that old Btrieve based application I can finally move everyone up to 64 bit .... Maybe next year....
 
When users can't access their Gmail anymore, they are going to blame Microsoft not Google. It's going to be because "IE SUX", or "M$ BLOWZ".... I

It's an effort to drive more people into their useless chrome OS toy that are coming from older PCs.
 
We just got upgraded (from XP) to Windows 7 and IE9 at work. A large purchasing database required older versions of IE and we finally got rid of that.
 
I just wish Google Search would work with IE11 on Windows 7. I took all the compatibility settings off like I found when I googled the problem, but it is still messed up.
 
epicengr said:
I just wish Google Search would work with IE11 on Windows 7. I took all the compatibility settings off like I found when I googled the problem, but it is still messed up.
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The release version fixed that for me, under the beta the page was a bit broken.
 
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