Silent Updates To Begin For Internet Explorer

These are the words web designers, the world over, have been waiting to hear for a very long time.

Microsoft announced the decision earlier this week to roll out silent updates – starting in January – for users who have not, for whatever reason, updated to the newest version of IE. There are a few points:

• If you are on Windows XP, you will be upgraded to Internet Explorer 8. IE 9 does not work on XP.
• Windows Vista and 7 users not using IE 9 will be upgraded to IE 9.
• Windows Automatic updating must be turned on.
• Corporations unable to upgrade their IE 6 legacy applications OR corporations who have IT staff who test upgrades before rolling them out to the rest of the company, will be able to opt out of the upgrade using the IE 8 and IE 9 Automatic Update Blocker toolkits.

Truth be told, I have stopped developing/supporting applications for IE 6 and 7 and I only marginally support IE 8. If someone is using IE 8, there’s no reason why they should not switch to IE 9. If their favorite site works in IE 8 but is broken on newer browsers then the problem is the people developing the site. Write them and tell them to join the rest of us.