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IE7 To Ship With Windows Patches Tomorrow [Not]

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the ready-or-not dept.

An anonymous reader writes, "Microsoft plans to push out Internet Explorer 7 as a 'high priority update' when it ships security patches tomorrow, according to Washingtonpost.com's Security Fix blog. That means anyone who has Windows configured to download and install patches automagically from Redmond will be greeted with IE7 next time they boot up their machines. In related news, it appears IE's worldwide market share actually increased a couple of points since July, despite a number of high profile zero-day attacks this year." The article notes that the IE7 "containment wall" protected mode will not be available on XP, but only to those who purchase Vista.

Update: 10/09 21:26 GMT by kd : An anonymous reader points to this Microsoft blog posting where it is revealed that the article linked above is incorrect. IE7 will not be pushed tomorrow.

6 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. WGA? by Honest+Olaf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Formerly IE7 was only available to folks who passed WGA, but Windows Update is available to all. Does this mean that IE7 will be distributed to users with non-genuine XP?

  2. Praise Allah! by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Anything to get people away from IE6, with which we have to use stupid hacks that don't work reliably to get PNGs to display properly. Not to mention all the box model bullshit. Now maybe I'm just not using esoteric enough markup but every page I've designed for Firefox has worked right in IE7... so, BRING ON THE UPGRADE! IE6 is a sad joke from both the security and standards compliance points of view and Microsoft is doing the right thing.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  3. Good or bad news for the web developers? by YA_Python_dev · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So this is a good or bad news for the web developers (not end users) that want to create useable standards-compliant websites?

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    There's a hidden treasure in Python 3.x: __prepare__()
    1. Re:Good or bad news for the web developers? by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Interesting
      It's a "bad news" if you want to test in IE6 *and* have a fully patched OS.

      Sure, unless perhaps you know what you are doing. Then you can have multiple IEs installed. I have IE5.5, IE6, and IE7 installed on my laptop alongside FF 1.5.whatever so I can do testing. To my right is a dual G5, running safari and ff/mac. IE/mac and Opera aren't even on the radar, the number of visitors using them is statistically insignificant for us. Really that's true of Safari as well but I like to support default web browsers.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. Containment Wall by TubeSteak · · Score: 3, Interesting
    However, one of IE 7's most useful security features, a protected mode -- billed as a "containment wall" to prevent the browser from installing software or changing computer settings without the user's consent -- will not be available for XP users. That feature will be reserved for users who upgrade to Windows Vista, the next version of the operating system, due in January.
    Is this "Containment Wall" something that can be hacked into working on XP?
    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  5. Re:Thank God by Mateo_LeFou · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think that the majority of people click on anything that says "Internet" when they want to use the internet. Since MS long ago renamed Explorer "The Internet" (via the start menu) that's what they'll use for the foreseeable future.

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