What happens to old browsers that are not updated?
Let’s take a look at the repercussions. Why the need for change?
The World Wide Web is a fast-paced medium. Sites that are booming today may be tomorrow’s dead wood in just a snap of a finger. Think back to 5 to 10 years ago to a site that you regularly visited. Is that still as cool of a site as it was back then? Or has the site been taken over by a newer, better version?
A browser is essentially a program (web software) you use to visit websites. Like any other software, browsers could be the best at the time of release, but become outdated over time, as it is overtaken by other browsers that are more user-friendly, fast, secure and feature-rich.
Take, for example, Internet Explorer. Owned by Microsoft, Internet Explorer is currently at version 9 or 10 (to be released in the fall of 2012). The browser was known to be the best and the most popular in the 1990s and early 2000s. However, despite the changes and the updates, this is not wholly true anymore. It is less stable, insecure, and a slower software compared to the other browsers on the web.
If you are using Internet Explorer 6, 7 or 8, they are worse than the 9th version. Again there is less stability, compatibility with existing tools and technologies, and much more vulnerable to viruses, spyware, and other security issues. In addition there are the issues with slowness and browser crashes.
Older browsers have limited display capabilities. This is because old browsers do not support new web technologies such as CSS3 and HTML5. If website owners want to make their websites compatible with old browsers, this would require more coding and of course more money. Is it really necessary, considering that there are less and less percentage of users that use older browser versions?
Old browsers are beyond slow, especially for up-to-date, content and media rich webistes and may take forever to load. In order to view web pages, the browser needs to perform various tasks, which includes the process of loading files, such as images and programming scripts. The speed of completing the tasks is much slower in older browsers than in new browsers, causing the former to freeze and crash easily.
Old browsers lack the support for modern web standards. Web developers are spending more time than necessary to get the websites to work on older browsers. Website owners need to decide whether they were living in the current era or in the past.
There are a number of security issues associated with using older browsers. Newer browsers are much better at protecting users against malware, spyware, viruses and other phishing attacks.
There is never a better time to exchange your old browser to the latest version. The latest versions are more secure, faster and in some cases allows you to get a better browsing experience.
Browsers are like cars – they need to be looked after and ultimately need replacing. If you are using an old browser, you may as well be driving a car from the 1980s.
Isn’t that already a compelling argument? We’ll let you decide.