Nixon McInnes warned their customers and business partners today of the possible implications of the launch of Internet Explorer 7 by Microsoft. Internet Explorer is the major global web browser accounting for approximately 70% of website traffic. The launch of Internet Explorer 7 by Microsoft may cause fundamental access and functionality issues for existing websites. The new version of the browser due to be launched in late October may cause the website visual layout, online forms, applications using secure connections and complex Javascript to break or not function as expected.
We recommend that site owners act before the proposed launch to work with either their in-house web team or with their web design agency to take steps to ensure their site is audited and made compatible with the new version of this most popular browser.
With over 70% of target audiences using Internet Explorer to view a website it is clearly not worth taking the chance of them not being able to view or use the site correctly with the resulting negative impact that could have on business.
Find out more information from Microsoft about the launch of IE7
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It should be noted that there is still no “official” release date, but that Microsoft are saying it will definitely be released in October.
Initially, it will appear on the Microsoft download centre and a few weeks later will be pushed out via Windows Automatic Update. When the upgrade is issued by auto-update it will be shown as a major update that the user has to make a decision on. It can’t be installed quietly in the background without the user knowing, so at least everyone gets a chance to decide if they want to install it.
Also, if the end-user doesn’t have administrator privileges then they won’t be able to install it anyway — so this will be the case for many people working in large companies who never get the option to install new software.