Microsoft takes its time in delivering IE7

Despite high priority, IE7 will be rolled out over 3 months

14 November 2006 13:50 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Even though the upgrade to Internet Explorer is supposed to be “high priority”, Microsoft is taking its time in distributing it via Automatic Updates.

The company has now said it doesn’t plan to push the browser upgrade out in the next round of security patches to be released Tuesday. Instead, Microsoft is slowly releasing it over the next few months in an arbitrary manner.

The notice to download IE7 will pop up on PC screens, notifying users of the “high priority” status of the update. IE users could opt out of receiving the automatically delivery via a special tool last July, but if you don’t want to download it, you can refuse installation when the pop up reminder appears.

Microsoft anticipates that not all business will install IE7, or else delay installation until they can migrate certain web-based software to the new browser.

So why is the company taking so long to push the software out? One big factor is that the company wants to make sure it can deal with the number of calls to its support centres, which provide free information and help.

IE7 is available for free download from Microsoft’s website.