Microsoft: Updates and New Releases Keep Rolling Out

Microsoft Corp. had released its latest edition of its Internet Explorer Web browser, IE8, on March, 19th, 2009 after almost a year of beta testing. Now, Microsoft is starting to push IE 8 updates to current IE users. Microsoft plans to start around the third week of April to send notifications through Automatic Update to users still using the following: users running IE6 or IE7 on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Server 2008. Microsoft will start with select users and then eventually expand to the entire user base.

These updates will not auto-install on any user’s machine. They will receive a Welcome screen that offers the user the choice to install now, later, or to not install at all. Users will need to opt-in to install the most current Internet Explorer Web browser IE8.

In addition to the latest version of Internet Explorer, there is a lot of chatter about the new Microsoft Operating System, Windows 7. The latest build to be leaked on the web has a build date of April, 4th, 2009, at 12:55pm. Due to the fact this version is almost identical to the previous build 7068 and has only improved upon minor elements of the UI including wallpaper and character images leads many to believe Microsoft’s final release candidate is very close. While Microsoft has tried not to announce an official release date, it is believed the release will be later this year.

What does this mean for users who currently run an older Microsoft Operating System? Well, not a lot at the moment. However, Microsoft has announced it will pull the plug on free support for Windows XP on April 14th, 2009. Security patches will still be developed and released for XP until April 2014, but over time there will be fewer apps that support the OS, ultimately killing XP. Many people have updated to Vista, so this will not be a problem for these users, but people running XP will eventually need to upgrade to the newest version of Vista or Windows 7. If you use Windows XP, don’t be too worried. A large majority of users still run the XP OS, so you will never be suddenly left out high-and-dry.

You can upgrade your software now to Windows Vista, or buy one of the laptops currently for sale since it will be awhile before the new Windows 7 has been released and all of the bugs have been worked out. It might be a good idea to have an external hard drive because the new Windows 7 will require that many people do a complete install and not just an upgrade. It is safest to backup and save your data and applications to an external hard drive or networked storage, install the new software and then reload your files. This ensures you do not loose anything.

The good news is Windows 7 will supposedly blast past XP, Vista and previous Operating System builds in terms of performance. This is something I think we are all looking forward to.