A startling piece of news for Microsoft as Google will phase out support for Internet Explorer 6 Web browser starting in March.

It's suspected that the attacks originated in China and were "sophisticated and precisely targeted" attacks, following which Google threatened to withdraw from the Chinese market.

Hackers used a flaw of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) browser to target the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

Microsoft mighty prepared for this coarse patch came up with the upgraded versions IE6 and IE7. It recommended users to upgrade as soon as possible. It also made clear that they won't rule out IE6.

Google precautionary measures will start with scraping off Google docs and Google's sites as the key functionality would not function.

The fact of the matter is Microsoft knew the flaw and couldn't patch the flaw in due time for which China suffered. NetApps report suggests till the launch of IE8, IE6 was the undisputed leader for many years.

The elementary question which rises is why couldn't Microsoft patch the flaw in due time?