Microsoft to Start “Silent” Updates for Internet Explorer

Anyone that has used Google Chrome for any length of time knows what silent updates are. When Google makes changes to Chrome, it doesn't post messages about it directing users to go to some site to get the new changes, instead, they happen automatically to every computer that has Google installed on it. The only way the user knows that something has gone on is if they notice a change in how their browser looks, or in the way it behaves. Now, Microsoft appears to going down the same road. In an announcement on the official company blog, Ryan Gavin talks about how Microsoft has taken this step as a means of providing a more secure environment for users the world over, as each new iteration of Internet Explorer is more secure than the last.

Most media are applauding the move, both here and overseas. The BBC for example says that upgrading users automatically should not only make computers safer, but they should work better when cruising the web, as earlier versions of IE don't support newer Internet standards such as HTML5.

There are some caveats however, as Gavin notes that enterprise systems can opt out of the updates if they choose, as can any individual user by changing the update option in their browser.

The BBC also notes that the change to silent updating is likely the culmination of a campaign Microsoft has been waging all year to get IE 6 users to upgrade to the newest version, which is IE 9. This because they say that Microsoft has estimated that some 8.3% of IE users worldwide are still using IE 6, or worse even earlier versions of the browser which are no longer supported. The largest group of such users, they say is in China, where estimates suggest as many as a quarter of all IE users still haven't upgraded.

The move to silent updates will also likely help Microsoft compete with Google, which the BBC notes has been closing in on Microsoft all year with its Chrome browser. Currently all the various versions of Microsoft's Explorer are still used by more than half of all web users.

Gavin says the move should be a plus for developers as well as user's will all automatically be upgraded to the same version, eliminating the need to test their products on multiple versions.

There will remain one important difference between the way IE is updated on user computers though, and it's one that is likely to remain a bone of contention. Where Google updates a user's computer while they are working, behind the scenes, IE will be updated when a user goes to turn off their computer, as is currently done with Windows updates, forcing the user to have to wait till it finishes before putting their computer away.