Microsoft To Update Browsers Automatically

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Microsoft seems to have had enough of the late-adopters – that sector of the browsing population which steadfastly refuses to update its browser when invited to do so by Microsoft. Soon they will have no choice – Microsoft will begin automatically upgrading users to the newest version of Internet Explorer in 2012. Google already follows the same pattern with Chrome, and Microsoft will push IE upgrades through the Windows Update service. Those creature-of-habit types around the world refusing to upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer meant it was still the world’s second most-used browser in 2010, nine years after launch.

Ryan Gavin, general manager for IE, said,’The web overall is better and safer – when more people run the most up-to-date browser’. Differences in the behind-the-scenes rendering of web pages between IE and the rest of the browsers means developers had to develop separate pages for earlier and later versions of Microsoft’s browser, and led to IE6 being universally loathed in the development community. Now the reduced workload of an IE6-free world should enable developers to focus on content rather than implementation, meaning a richer web experience for all. This is especially so now that with IE9 Microsoft has finally implemented basic HTML5 functionality which has been offered as standard in Opera, Firefox and Chrome for years. Amusingly enough, there’s a slight catch. Mr Gavin reassures us, ‘Microsoft will, however, give users the option to prevent the automatic updates’. Security should also benefit from the automatic updates.

PCPRO

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