Anything Goes Discussions

I read a lot of online articles, blogs and technical papers, while I also work with Windows, Linux and OS X on a daily basis. A lot has recently been written about in a negative light about the perception of IE 7 and how it will affect Vista. A majority of this negative press has come from the folks at Ziff Davis, mostly eWeek and Microsoft Watch. The links take you straight to two of the articles and authors I’m talking about.

What gets to me is that both of these articles contain one sided and even misleading facts slanted against Microsoft. While I don’t always agree with the positions of Microsoft and will state my case one way or the other, I always will present both sides if someone wants to comment about it. Here are both sides of this issue from their perspective and mine own experiences:

Their side on the Automatic update of IE 7:

Whether or not there is an installation notification is irrelevant, I think. The perception that there is no notification–that the end user had no choice–is what matters more.

Source: Microsoft Watch – Web Services & Browser – Will IE 7 Perception Problems Hurt Vista?

Microsoft used the January 2007 security update to induce users to try Internet Explorer 7.0 whether they wanted to or not. But after discovering they had been involuntarily upgraded to the new browser, they next found that application incompatibility effectively cut them off from the Internet.

Source: Monthly Microsoft Patch Hides Tricky IE 7 Download

The other side, which I am on:

Today’s case in point is from Joe Wilcox, who took over Microsoft Watch from Mary Jo Foley a few months ago. In a muddled mess of a column about IE7, Joe includes this quote from a reader:

“IE 7 is horrible!” said Mark Brugler. The browser “crashed every time I tried to watch a video.” The technical director for a theatre in Tucson, Ariz. complained that he “didn’t like the fact that [IE 7] was forced upon me via Microsoft updates and I was not given the choice to install it.”

The reason this jumped out at me is I’ve been rebuilding PCs this week and I’ve run into the IE7 installation via Windows Update and Microsoft Update not once but twice. Joe’s reader is, to put it charitably, wrong. IE7 is not – indeed, cannot be – installed without the user’s explicit consent. In fact, there are three separate places where you have to provide that consent, or the installation fails.
Source: More fact-free journalism | Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise |

And my perception:

Automatic updates have been around for a long time. They are able to be customized and if you are running a network server, you can change group policies for all your users in less than 5 minutes. You can also use you own Windows Software Update Server to push what updates you want.

Microsoft hasn’t hidden the IE 7 update, and it’s not even a Critical update (update 1/25, it’s actually a high priority update but optional to install). It’s an Optional software update, that has been said above contains 3 dialogs you have to agree to before it will actually install. That is the same with the Automatic, Express and Custom updates settings.

Furthermore, if you do a Custom update you have the option to uncheck the download and read the information about IE 7 and check not to show the update again. This choice actually hides it and never downloads it unless you change the settings and show the update again. Lastly, Microsoft even has an IE blocker script you can download and use to change your registry to block the IE download completely.

Their is no perception that you have to download it, none whatsoever. The only reason to feel like you should download it is that you don’t read or aren’t completely informed on the download. Nowhere in update documentation does it say that if you don’t download IE 7 your computer will explode or never run again.

There are many more people who administer windows networks that actually understand the process and know how to manage a rollout or just the simple task of setting group policies for automatic updates. There are also many average users that know how to read the installation prompts without being a zombie. You can’t blame the messenger if the recipient can’t take the time to read or say no before kicking the tires by getting more information.

It is a proven fact that people with a problem are more likely to speak out than someone that doesn’t have a problem with the same issue.

I’ve downloaded IE 7 on my home systems without a problem. It works on an XP system & my Vista laptop. At work we have tested it and have come to the conclusion that it does not work correctly with a few of our other pieces of software that use IE, so we have blocked it’s download until the other programs update themselves to run with IE 7.

Technorati tags: Internet Explorer 7, Windows, Vista, Microsoft, Windows Vista