Now we are changing this thread headline, maybe QT can split
http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/09/16/google-analytics-to-drop-internet-explorer-8-support-at-the-end-of-2013/
http://theie8countdown.com/
http://www.infoworld.com/t/javascript/jquery-20-drops-support-old-versions-of-internet-explorer-216898
I am sorry and I understand your point of view but it will become not only difficult but impossible to have store that supports older versions of IE. The above are just some examples but more core store libraries will follow if not yet doing it.
jQuery is main component - if 4.6.2 is moving to v2 there will be no support for IE8 not because QT dropped it but because jQuery did... Going back to jQuery 1.x will probably require more changes to XC to make other components work... It is all related
And with Google dropping support as well - GA is just the beginning - there will be incomplete or incorrect data to analyze...