Come March 13, YouTube will stop supporting Internet Explorer 6, striking another blow to the 9-year-old Web browser.
To be clear, this doesn't mean you won't be able to watch YouTube videos with IE6, but new, unspecified features that Google plans to roll out in the weeks and months ahead won't work. "Surfing the Web on an old browser can be a lot like running a steam engine along the tracks of a bullet train -- it may still work, but it doesn't take advantage of the speed and security of the new technology," says a Google page on upgrading your browser for YouTube.
YouTube is now warning people who visit the site with IE6 that support will end on March 13. Before they can watch the video, they must either choose from five newer browsers to download (Chrome, Opera 10, Firefox 3.6, Safari 4 and Internet Explorer 8) or decline the upgrade and continue to the video. The interstitial warning will appear every two weeks until the user upgrades.
In fairness, YouTube is also dropping support for old versions of Chrome, Firefox and Safari, but Internet Explorer 6 has the worst reputation among Web developers, because it's the most prevalent. Estimates of IE6's market share vary, but range from 10 percent to 20 percent.
Other Google services, Google Docs and Google Sites, are also ending IE6 support at the start of next month. Gmail and Google Calendar will lose IE6 support by the end of the year.
Still, getting people to switch won't be easy as posting a simple reminder. Microsoft's Dean Hachamovitch has written that much of IE6's support is institutional. Even though the upgrade is free, IT departments might hesitate if they don't want to risk problems newer browsers could cause for their infrastructure. For people trying to watch a little YouTube at work, Google's interstitial warnings will be a nuisance that can't be corrected.
That's not to say dropping IE6 is a bad idea. I'm excited to see what features Google comes up with that IE6 was holding back.
