It looks like Google decided to take on a small chunk of Microsoft, specifically their Internet Explorer v6 web browser, and won.

As of March 1st, Google will no longer support the IE6 browser for Google Docs or Google Sites.

IE users will have to upgrade to at least version 7 if they want to use those products, as “many other companies have already stopped supporting older browsers like Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers,” said in the Official Google Enterprise Blog.

What is supported?  IE7, Firefox 3 (and newer), Chrome 4 (and newer) and Safari 3 (and newer).  Why did they decide to do this now?  Its probably due to the flaw in IE6 that was exploited recently that took aim at Google and some other U.S. companies, which Microsoft released a patch for earlier in January.

Personally, I am surprised that companies and consumers are still using IE6. With all of IE7′s improvements, the upgrade should have been a no-brainer.  And, it comes on all new PCs anyway.