Microsoft pushes IE8 to users IE6 and IE7

Microsoft has announced that it will start distributing the latest version of its browser, Internet Explorer 8, to users of older versions of Microsoft’s browser from mid-April via Windows Update and Automatic Update.

Users of one of the test versions of the eighth version of Internet Explorer, Béta 2 or Release Candidate 1, received the final version of Microsoft’s browser via Automatic Update at the beginning of April. If you have Internet Explorer 6 or 7 installed on your computer, you will receive an update via Microsoft’s update service in the third week of April notified be informed about the possibility to download and install version 8. The browser will be deployed under Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003, and Server 2008 operating systems, with the Windows XP and Server 2003 update designated as “High-Priority”; under Vista and Server 2008, the priority has dropped to ‘Important’.

The browser will not be installed automatically, but the user will have to grant Microsoft permission to install IE8 through an opt-in system. System administrators can hide the availability of IE8 from their users by using a Blocker Toolkit. Microsoft will initially limit the rollout of Internet Explorer 8 to a select audience, but warns system administrators to have their measures in place by April 20. Only in a few months, in July, Microsoft will make Internet Explorer 8 available to its Windows Server Update Service and Systems Management Server.