Google will restrict Gmail in Windows XP and Vista this year

Google is taking a hard line on security for its mail service which means, those who use obsolete versions of Windows are going to be forced very soon to upgrade or risk losing fast access to Gmail.

As most of us are aware Windows XP has been end of life for almost 2 years now, and Windows Vista is soon to end next month, both will be blocked from using this ever popular mail service in its current form, this is due to start at the end of 2017.

Whilst the block will not be fully complete, it means users will still be able to use the basic HTML interface, however those that have had to use this know it is not fun in comparison to the Ajax and Javascript front end that everyone is used to.

According to Google, they have already started warning customers it is going to stop Gsuite apps working in versions of Chrome prior to 53 soon, along with nag screen appearing for users running versions below 55.

It also couples with the fact that Chrome is not actually supported in Vista or XP after version 49, this means the nags will not go away unless you get rid of your old machine completely.

Vista and XP users have already been blocked for Google Drive.

For the remainder of XP users there is not much to add, they know their machines are out of date. However for Vista users it is not quite that simple, even though there are not many users of Vista left there is still 35 days before they will go end of life, there has not been much publicity on this so far. This seems to be because it never really worked correctly in the first place and it is thought that people will not really notice.

Chrome 56 is their latest version, it is the first to welcome HTML5 as its default after getting rid of all the plug-ins such as Flash and Netscape related hangovers.

Whilst it can be easy to be dismissive of the upgrade culture, everyone needs to remember that the older operating systems were not designed for the robustness of modern security needs, in the short of it as long as the hackers continue to up their game so must the good guys.