On March 19th, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 turns three. On that same day, Populi will drop support for Internet Explorer 7, which will be 5½ years old at that time.

Why are we dropping IE7?

A number of tightly-intertwined reasons:

• It's an old browser that doesn't comply with modern web standards
• It's old and slow and buggy, not to mention full of horrifying security vulnerabilities
• Very few people use it any more—it accounts for about 2.3% of Populi logins (see the above chart)
• Its worldwide usage is dropping*, and it's unlikely that future customers will be using it
• Continued support of IE7 diverts resources away from more worthwhile long-term projects

What should you do?

If you're using Internet Explorer 7, it's time to stop! IE7 doesn't just have problems with Populi—it doesn't play nice with a good part of the internet, and it's only going to get worse. The solution is easy: download one of these free web browsers (links below). It'll take just a few minutes and make for a much better online experience overall.

Firefox

Safari

Chrome

And if you're running Windows Vista or 7, you can also try IE9...

*In this article, Microsoft itself says that it is "pleased IE6 and IE7 usage share continues to drop (by 0.85% in October); it’s an indication that customers recognize the benefits they can realize when using a modern browser."