End of Google Apps Support for Internet Explorer 8
A warning to all of you on Windows XP who use Internet Explorer: Google just announced that when Internet Explorer 10 launches on October 26, 2012, Google will shortly thereafter stop supporting the use of Internet Explorer 8 for Google Apps, which includes Google Docs (word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations) and Google Drive. Google will officially end support for Internet Explorer 8 on November 15, 2012. There's no official statement on GMail support for Internet Explorer 8 just yet, but since GMail is technically part of Google Apps, it's likely that support for using Internet Explorer 8 on GMail will likely also end soon.
Your alternative is to use Google Chrome or Firefox on Windows XP. If you're on Windows Vista or Windows 7 you can use Internet Explorer 9 or 10, once that version of Internet Explorer is released, though you'll get a much better Web browsing experience and a much better Google Apps experience if you use Google Chrome instead.