IE7 Via Automatic Updates
Since IE7 is coming via “High Priority” in Automatic Updates it is important to remember to turn them off. In my case, I turned it off in one of the VMs I have in Parallels that I use specifically for IE6 testing. This way you can be notified of updates but not get an IE7 surprise one morning. Alternatively, you can use the IE7 blocker toolkit - which I didn’t even know existed until I googled on this subject.
From the overview:
To help our customers become more secure and up-to-date, Microsoft will distribute Internet Explorer 7 as a high-priority update via Automatic Updates for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 soon after the final version of the browser is released (planned for fourth quarter 2006). Microsoft is making a non-expiring Blocker Toolkit available for those organizations that would like to block automatic delivery of Internet Explorer 7 to machines in environments where Automatic Updates is enabled.
I wonder how many IT departments will choose to go this route and what kind of penetration IE7 will get (especially with consumsers) via automatic updates. It’ll be interesting to watch the logs on user agent shift over to IE7 over time.