Beginning August 1, Google's online Apps suite will only support the current stable version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer and the previous major release of each of these browsers.

This means that on that date, the suite will no longer support Firefox 3.5, Internet Explorer 7, and Safari 3 or any older browsers. "For web applications to spring even farther ahead of traditional software, our teams need to make use of new capabilities available in modern browsers," the company said in a blog post. "For this reason, soon Google Apps will only support modern browsers."

Each time a new version of each browser is released, Google will then cease support of the third newest version. If you are using an unsupported browser, Google says, you may have problems using certain tools in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs, or Google Sites. And the company adds that some point, these apps may no work at all in other browsers.

Google does not officially support Opera, and Opera chief technology officer Håkon Wium Lie recently told The Reg that he believes Google is missing a huge opportunity here, as Opera accounts for 30 to 40 per cent of the browser market in Russia, a country where Google's reach is relatively small. ®