I wish Microsoft would shoehorn at least IE9 into XP, maybe like Chrome Frame.
It's crazy how many people are still stuck with XP/IE8 which is a massive web dev headache.
It's crazy how many people are still stuck with XP/IE8 which is a massive web dev headache.
Based on current stats, I'd say IE 8 hasn't got long till you can ignore it but it really depends on how much market share you care about. Do people STILL target IE 6? IE 8 is on ~10%[1] and at the current rate it's dropping at should be at 5% by October - Just in time for IE 11?
As for blaming XP, I'm not sure you can completely. IE 8 is the default browser of Windows 7 and XP has more than double the market share of IE 6/7/8 combined. Most IE users seem to be schools and companies that haven't upgraded. Although IE 6 will definitely be gone by April 2014, we could very well be stuck with IE 8 for a very long time.
For the record, IE 6 and 7 should be ignored completely. Combined they have a market share of less than 1%.
For a rule of thumb, I commonly drop support once a browser crosses 5%. Might seem high but usually once it's at that level, it's only going to keep falling.
Something to look forward to, my estimates[2] put Firefox 3.6, Safari 5/5.1 and IE 6/7/9 to all be gone by the start of 2014. Of course, linear estimations should always be taken with a grain of salt.
[1] http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_version_partially_combine...