Prepare to be Phased Up (IE)

If you have fastidiously been avoiding IE8 for one reason or another, it's time to listen up. You will be upgraded by automatic updates...at least if you run XP or newer.

I'm kind of torn on this. If this were the process all for newer versions of Windows software, perhaps the malware/virus situation would be far better than it currently is. Changing things this late in the game, however, could cause some issues. I know of some applications still in production environments that are still only compatible with IE6/7, and they will need to be updated prior to this roll-out.

Overall this should be a good change and a worthwhile upgrade. IE8 should be quite a bit more secure than 6 or 7. Once users get used to this type of upgrade path, development for the latest and greatest platforms could be quite a bit easier. No more specific code for out of date browsers!