Internet Explorer 6 has been a thorn in the side of developers for quite some time. The legacy browser has stuck around thanks to big business refusing to upgrade because of either legacy software issues or not wanting to update the default browser in XP; regardless it"s still out there in the Internet ecosystem.
While other dominate players like Google have started to pull support for IE6, Facebook is finally joining the growing list of websites that no longer supports that platform. Announced on their blog, Facebook states “The biggest improvements come from changes that aren"t supported on older web browsers. After evaluating the alternatives, we"ve decided to make rapid improvements and provide the best Chat experience possible, which means we will no longer support Internet Explorer 6 browsers.”
While it’s not entirely clear if Facebook is pulling support for the entire site, the chat function will no longer be supported after September 15. The date co-incides nicely with Microsoft"s Internet Explorer 9 beta. Officials are expected to share more details on Microsoft"s Internet Explorer 9 features, including beta code. Earlier this week the IE9 beta UI leaked after Microsoft Russia pressed the publish button a little early on press release.
As the Internet continues to grow and increase in complexity, it’s important that users keep their browsers updated to the latest version to ensure the best possible experience. Legacy browsers dramatically slowed web standards adoption in the early 2000s and it’s important that we don’t repeat those steps in the future.
Thanks for the news tip Mephistopheles