Google Chrome, by some estimates the world's third most popular desktop web browser, will cease to support older versions of Microsoft's Windows and Apple's OS X operating systems.
In a recent blog post, Google announced that it intends to discontinue support for Chrome on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X versions 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8 by April 2016 because "these platforms are no longer actively supported by Microsoft and Apple." Google did not release a specific date when for when it intends to discontinue support.
The recent blog post follows the company's previous announcement made earlier this year that it would continue to support Windows XP by providing updates to its Chrome web browser in spite of Microsoft's discontinuation of support for that operating system in 2014. Google stated that this was because Windows XP had substantial market share.
While Microsoft intends to support Windows Vista until April 11, 2017, Google's previous reprieve for Windows XP clarifies its recent decision to discontinue support for Chrome on Windows Vista before that date: the operating system does not have substantial market share.
Google notes that current versions of Chrome "will continue to function on these platforms" after support for Chrome is discontinued, but the company encourages users to upgrade to newer operating systems so that they may continue to use the latest versions of the web browser.
Source: Google | Image: Google
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