Google has announced today that they will no longer be supporting a series of older browsers that many might currently be using. This move is being made in order to usher in next-generation Apps features that legacy browser are simply unable to support going forward.

Beginning August 1st, web browsers that are two versions removed from the current one will no longer be supported. This means that there will no longer be functionality for Firefox 3.5, Internet Explorer 7 and Safari 3 starting on that date.

Some of the newest features in Google Apps, including the newly released drag and drop of files as well as some of the desktop notifications that we have previously written about require advanced HTML5 capabilities in order to work. As a result, after August 1st some features going forward may not work in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs and Google Sites with older browsers. This is one of the reasons for the move since going forward there will be many new capabilities added that will not be functional with these older versions.

One option that could be considered during this transition process may be to move to Google’s Chrome browser. Unlike other browsers on the market, it updates to the latest version automatically – but IT administrators are able to use policy templates to control these settings. If you need help with enterprise deployment best practices for Chrome, check out this resource. You can also read the full announcement regarding browser support from Google here.