Google Apps dropping support for IE9
Google has announced through its Google Apps blog that it will be dropping support for Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 browser in the coming weeks. — The blog post highlights Google's policy for browser support which includes the latest …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google's move closes the loop on a browser it helped introduce: Microsoft unveiled the IE9 beta back in September 2010, and by November 2013 Google is retiring it from Google Apps after roughly three years of service. Under Google's stated Apps policy, only the latest version of each supported browser qualifies — so IE9's exit was scheduled the moment its successor shipped.
The announcement traveled unusually far for a routine support-policy post, with pickups at CNET, The Next Web, Softpedia, gHacks, WebProNews and The Inquirer all on or about November 6, 2013 — a sign that any change to which browsers can run Google Apps carries real weight for IT departments that have standardized on them.
First-order effects
- Organizations and individual users still on Internet Explorer 9 lose access to Google Apps within weeks unless they upgrade to a newer IE or switch to Chrome or Firefox.
- Microsoft sees another slice of its installed browser base pushed off an IE version it still supports, since Google's cutoff follows its own latest-version rule rather than Microsoft's lifecycle dates.
Second-order effects
- Enterprises that pinned internal workflows to IE9 now have a business reason to accelerate desktop upgrades, decoupling their cloud-suite access from legacy-browser compatibility testing.
- Competing SaaS vendors face pressure to publish comparable rolling browser-support policies, because users will expect their productivity suites to track the same 'latest version' baseline Google set.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, cloud application providers — not browser makers — become the effective arbiters of how long an old browser remains usable, shortening practical browser lifecycles below what vendor support schedules promise.
The trend: Web-based productivity suites are shifting browser support to a rolling latest-version model, letting cloud vendors retire old clients like IE9 faster than their own makers do.