IE7 To Be Pushed to XP

CNET is broadcasting this headline like its a bad thing. I have been beta testing IE7 for several weeks now, both on XP and on the new Vista Beta platform. IE7 is still not a stable version of the browser, but it has some excellent security features such as big warnings for expired SSL certificates, solid blocking of Active X and Java scripting, and locked down default browser settings.

But CNET trumpets this news as if Microsoft were planning on wrecking PC’s across the country with the update to IE.

From CNET here:

Microsoft plans to automatically push Internet Explorer 7 to Windows XP users when the browser update is ready later this year.

IE 7 will be delivered in the fourth quarter as a “high priority” update via Automatic Updates in Windows XP, Gary Schare, Microsoft’s director of IE product management, said in an interview Tuesday.

“The justification, of course, is the significant security enhancements in IE 7,” Schare said. Microsoft recommends that all Windows users install the new browser when it ships, he added.

IE 7 will be the first major update to Microsoft’s ubiquitous Web browser in five years. Security was the No. 1 investment for the update, Microsoft has said. Critics have likened predecessor IE 6 to “Swiss cheese” because of the many security vulnerabilities in it. A third and final beta of IE 7 was released late last month.

Users will be able to choose whether they want to install it or not, Schare said. Automatic Updates will first notify users when IE 7 is ready to install and then show a welcome screen that presents key features and the choices to install, not install or postpone installation.

I am not going to bash IE too much. I know its still not ready for prime time. But I will say that I am updating this blog with Firefox. And I was forced to download Firefox for Vista just to get a stable way to download larger files without the browser crashing.

All users should download IE7 for the security enhancements, not only to the browser, but for the underlying OS. The new version will likely plug holes in security zones and remove other hooks that could pose risks to XP users. But I would not expect that you can get rid of Firefox any time soon. In fact, they have a new version coming out about the same time too.