If you were to ask Google, they’d tell you they were “encouraging users to update their browsers”. This is a worthy cause: today’s browsers are faster, more secure and capable of running much more impressive Web apps than their predecessors. But Google isn’t requiring anyone to upgrade, nor is it shutting anything down. The company is just not going to take extra pains to make sure that new features in Gmail, Google Docs and other Web apps, including drag-and-drop images or desktop notifications, work in older browsers. By not requiring its engineers to cater to out-of-date software, Google can take advantage of newer browser capabilities such as HTML5 to make its sites more like apps and less like Web pages.

But what about the stragglers? Many companies don’t – or can’t – upgrade their computer systems very often, leaving employees using outdated versions of Internet Explorer. Likewise, personal computers with older versions of Windows or Mac OS may not be compatible with newer browsers at all. Rajen Sheth, group product manager for Google Enterprise, tells PM that the changes won’t be drastic in the near future. “Nothing will break per se,” Sheth says, “but certain newer features might not work on older browsers.”

In any case, upgrading is a good idea, if possible. Google is far from the only company that wants to leverage new browser technologies – the newest version of Microsoft’s SkyDrive site uses HTML5 for photo galleries, and Apple’s home page uses it for navigation – but sticking with an old browser version is your loss, not theirs. Go to whatbrowser.org to check your browser version and see the alternatives – they’re all free.