Google announced that it will stop releasing updates for Google Chrome running on Windows XP, Vista and OS X versions 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8. Google said that its support for the said operating systems is only good until April 2016.

Google Chrome director of engineering Marc Pawliger announced the news on Chrome's official blog posting, "Today, we're announcing the end of Chrome's support for Windows XP, as well as Windows Vista, and Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8, since these platforms are no longer actively supported by Microsoft and Apple."

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Pawliger added that once the scheduled date arrives, Chrome will still function on the said platforms, but it will no longer receive security fixes and updates from Google.

On this note, Pawliger advised Chrome users who are still using the browser on the affected platforms to migrate to a newer operating system to make sure that their browser receives regular security fixes and upgrades.

For users who still want to cling to their Windows XP operating system and still want to receive regular updates for their Internet browsers, they can choose Opera or Mozilla Firefox. 

The two browsers have yet to cease releasing updates for the XP version of their respective browsers. However, some tech analysts believe that with the recent announcement from Google, Mozilla and Opera are most likely to follow suit.

Microsoft officially stopped updating Windows XP in 2014. The company stopped mainstream support for Windows Vista in 2012; it still offers extended support to some users but only until 2017.

With regards to Windows XP, the United States Navy signed a $9 million deal with Microsoft and urges the latter to provide software patches and critical hotfixes for the operating system. This simply shows that even though Windows XP is more than a decade-old operating system, its application is still used by some of the most critical agencies of government.

TagsGoogle Chrome, Windows XP, windows vista, Mac, Mac OS X