IE8 On the Horizon

Potentially big news for Internet Explorer users and designers alike:

Microsoft have announced that Internet Explorer 8.0 will be released via the Windows Automatic Update starting on the third week of April 2009 (view the IEBlog announcement). The final version of the browser has been available for download since 20 March, but its uptake has been fairly sedate and is probably limited to web developers and early adopters.

The Automatic Update is likely to change the situation significantly. All IE6 and IE7 users on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008 will receive an IE8 update notification. It will be marked as “High-priority” in XP and 2003, and “Important” in Vista and 2008. The roll out will initially target a small audience but expand to cover the entire user base over the coming weeks.

However, IE8 will not install automatically and a welcome screen will give users the option to install, ask later, or abandon the upgrade. The company have also released a blocker toolkit so IT administrators can disable the update.

Despite the massive roll-out, what most web developers need to know is: will this finally eradicate IE6?

The only real way to test these waters is to wait and see--in the past, IE6 users have opted against getting the upgrade, choosing to stay instead with an interface they already were familiar with.

Story at Sitepoint.