Microsoft recently announced that on Feb. 12th IE7 will be included as a security update in WSUS (Windows server update service) regardless if it were requested or not. In the home environment IE7 is a recommended update through Microsoft’s automatic update service but most companies, both large and small, use WSUS to monitor their computer environment, keeping it up-to-date with the latest fixes. This is good news for web developers hoping to merge the 33% IE6 user base with the 22% IE7 users.

Although this update sounds promising, I don’t expect a huge decrease in IE6 users. Most IE6 users have automatic updates disabled or work in a corporate environment where system admins will continue to block the update. It’s inevitable; IE7 is here to stay (get Firefox).