IE8’s death has been rumored for a long while, but the final nail in the coffin is coming January 12, 2016: Starting on that date, Microsoft will only support the most recent version of IE for supported OS’s . Vista is the oldest OS they still support, which means IE9 will be the oldest supported browser on any Windows OS in January 2016. <insert raucous applause here>
Many of the most popular JavaScript frameworks have already responded by dropping IE8 support. Bootstrap 4 dropped support. Angular dropped support. Ember dropped support (and lost weight in the process). jQuery 2 was created to eliminate hacks necessary for older versions of IE. jQuery2 only supports IE9+.
IE8’s Death is Great News
We can finally enjoy modern features that are supported in IE9+. SVG icons, Media queries for responsive design, and many components of CSS3 for modern styles. It also means we can build complex and modern JS apps without bumping up against IE8’s low stack size limit (which creates annoying warnings). How much better is IE9 than IE8? I’m just scratching the surface!
Microsoft drops IE8 support in January 12, 2016. I’d suggest we, as a community, do the same. If you haven’t already, it’s time to start warning your customers.
I’m excited for an evergreen browser future!
“Vista is the oldest OS they still support, which means IE9 will be the oldest supported browser on any Windows OS in January 2016”
Wrong
Windows 7 shipped with IE 8 and in most Large Enterprise companies(including mine) we are still stuck with IE 8 and I don’t see any plan to move away from IE 8 yet.
Understood the context incorrectly. You are right. No security updates for older versions of IE on Windows 7. BUT Large Enterprise companies(including mine) are still stuck with IE 8 and I don’t see any plan to move away from IE 8 yet.