Google has announced that it will be dropping support for Internet Explorer 6 from March 1st. First to lose support will be Google Docs and Google Sites followed by other services in the next few months.

Internet Explorer 6 was a ground breaking browser when it first came on the scene, burying its main rival Netscape in the popularity stakes and adding new browser features that are still in use today. But then browser standards and cross platform compatibility, incorrect rendering of modern CSS, high profile security issues and a slow javascript rendering engine means that IE6 just doesnt cut the mustard anymore. There is still a significant number of PCs running IE6 - most in large corporations where the cost and security implications of upgrading all their machines to the latest standards has prevented upgrading until now. It hass been estimated that between 10 and 12% of browsers use the IE6 engine.

Google is not alone in dropping IE6 support. Apple has dropped support and even Microsoft itself is keen to distance itself from IE6, the latest web apps for Office 2010 do not have IE6 support. Other high profile entities like YouTube and Facebook have also been calling for IE6 to be consigned to history.

If only everyone used the same browser, it would give us web developers have a much easier life. Especially if it had full CSS3 and HTML 5 support.