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IE7 to be Pushed to Users Via Windows Update

// July 27th, 2006 // Technology

Later this year, Microsoft will tag IE7 as a “critical update”, forcing users with PC’s set to automatically download and install critical Microsoft updates to use the newer browser.

This is the first major browser update by Microsoft in five years. It will contain some of the features which have long-since made Firefox the browser to beat. It will also have some much-needed security updates that have plagued IE users for years.

Given the backlash that followed the release of Service Pack 2 for Windows XP via Windows Update, this time Microsoft is making available a tool businesses can use to prevent IE7 from being automatically installed by their user base. How generous…

While a browser update from Microsoft is welcome from a security and features perspective, (as previously reported) most of the standards-compliance improvements revolve around bug fixes in their CSS implementation, rather than supporting the latest CSS standards or making any real effort at passing the Acid2 test.

Additionally, as a creator of web-based software, I can tell you that my industry peers are cringing at the prospect of supporting another version of IE while maintaining support for legacy IE browsers. This is no small feat. Larger shops have surely been planning for this for some time and are prepared. Smaller shops may only now be learning of the imminence of the rollout and will soon be scrambling to get their code in-line with yet another non-standards-compliant browser offering from mother Microsoft.

Be a friend, spread Firefox.

Read more at cNet News.