Starting with the 25th of August, the current year, Microsoft will make Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) available as an “update rollup” via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). IT professionals who manage an organization’s desktops need to prepare for this ahead of time. All organizations that use WSUS and have it set to auto-approve update rollup packages will have IE8 automatically installed on machines running IE6 and IE7 – after the WSUS administrator accepts IE8’s EULA (End User License Agreement) of course.

“For those of you who manage your organization’s desktops using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) Internet Explorer 8 will be made available via this technology starting August 25, 2009. Internet Explorer 8 will be made available as an “Update rollup” and will be applicable to all supported languages. If your organization uses WSUS and has it configured to auto-approve Update rollup packages, upon acceptance of the Internet Explorer 8 End User License Agreement (EULA) by the WSUS administrator, Internet Explorer 8 will install automatically on computers running Internet Explorer 6 or 7 on supported operating system,” explained Lead Program Manager with Internet Explorer, Eric Hebenstreit.

What you need to do is take control over how and when the browser is deployed and in order to do so you just need to follow two simple steps:

Step 1. Turn off the WSUS “update rollup” auto-approve feature before August 25th. Then approve the updates manually.
Step 2. Sync the WSUS server -> do not accept the IE8 update packages -> re-enable automatic approval for “update rollups” if you normally auto-approve update rollup packages.

Please note that other IE8 updates will be made available via Windows Server Update Services in the future. In this category we list cumulative security updates for IE8 and IE8 Compatibility View List; these updates will be released via WSUS as they become available.

In related news, IE8 can now finally say that it provides support for a total of 63 languages (details here).