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Re:Microsoft decides to automatically update Internet Explor... by necolas on Thursday December 15, 2011 @09:06AM (#3356145)
Furthermore, apparently "future versions of IE will provide an option in the product for consumers to opt out of automatic upgrading".

Source: http://windowsteamblog.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2011/12/15/ie-to-...

Re:Microsoft decides to automatically update Internet Explor... by hello_moto on Thursday December 15, 2011 @09:39AM (#3356275)
If Redmond insist to have this option, please make it super hard for users to do it :D
Re:Microsoft decides to automatically update Internet Explor... by gldalmaso on Thursday December 15, 2011 @09:45AM (#3356300)
I don't think that it will be a big issue since the major reason for end users to still have IE6 around is inertia.
Re:Microsoft decides to automatically update Internet Explor... by michael_dorfman on Thursday December 15, 2011 @09:59AM (#3356367)
The major reason for end users to still have IE6 around is that they use proprietary applications which were written with IE6 in mind, and they see no good reason to spend money to upgrade these applications (if the vendor is even still interested in doing so) if it still works.

So, as long as there is a way to opt out, I imagine there are a lot of corporate folks who will do so.

Re:Microsoft decides to automatically update Internet Explor... by obtu on Thursday December 15, 2011 @10:13AM (#3356433)
I think these are best addressed with the X-UA-Compatible header, and various other ways to trigger the use of an older IE engine. Otherwise, users are offered a choice between broken legacy internal apps, or breakage on most of the rest of the web.
Re:Microsoft decides to automatically update Internet Explor... by radicalbyte on Thursday December 15, 2011 @10:50AM (#3356593)
If that requires a change to the legacy application then it's never going to work.

There's a reason companies can't upgrade from IE6 without a significant cost, and it is usually one of the following:

1) The company has lost the sourcecode, and the original engineers have left.

2) The company doesn't even have the source code, and has no rights to modify the application.

3) The application is vendor-supplied, and said vendor requires a large cash payment to make the 'custom' change.

4) The application is vendor-supplied and the vendor refuses to support IE6 in the version of their application that the company have deployed. Their new, super expensive version does support more browsers.

5) The company has little control over their IT. Their business depends on a thousand tiny applications built by countless different parties of varying ability. Simply auditing the whole mess is too costly.

So lots of companies take the easy (and cheap) route out and decide to stick with an ancient browser.

Re:Microsoft decides to automatically update Internet Explor... by pyre on Thursday December 15, 2011 @11:04AM (#3356660)
Adding a single header can be done as simply as using nginx as a 'transparent' proxy in front of the app. No need to make application changes.
Re:Microsoft decides to automatically update Internet Explor... by AmazingMe on Thursday December 15, 2011 @10:43PM (#3359309)
or can be added to policy/registry that open http://legacyapp:6583 in ie6 frame.
Re:Microsoft decides to automatically update Internet Explor... by flomo on Thursday December 15, 2011 @01:37PM (#3357323)
Modern versions of IE do not contain a compatibility mode for IE6, hence the problem. (The official solution is virtualization.)
Re:Microsoft decides to automatically update Internet Explor... by kmfrk on Thursday December 15, 2011 @12:10PM (#3356935)
Sounds reasonable and as something only power users would be aware of.

Updating using Windows Update is the biggest pain in the ass, and it's great to see a much more convenient solution.

Re:Microsoft decides to automatically update Internet Explor... by alastairpat on Thursday December 15, 2011 @08:16PM (#3358921)
The update will still be delivered via Windows Update, it just won't prompt you like it previously did.