Microsoft Dogfooding IE9 RTW on 120,000 Computers

Microsoft has yet to wrap up the company-wide rollout of Internet Explorer 9, but once it does, the software giant will be dogfooding IE9 RTW on approximately 120,000 computers.

The deadline for the end of the IE9 deployment process is some three months after RTM, with the company noting that it’s ahead of schedule.

As it’s always the case, Microsoft IT is the one tasked with making sure that machines in Redmond and the company’s other locations worldwide get the latest version of Internet Explorer.

Microsoft is not at all shy about sharing details of the IE9 deployment, offering a whitepaper for download which focuses on the testing and rollout strategies employed to put the browser on in excess of 100,000 computers.

Dogfooding by the way is a term used as frequently inside Microsoft as the company’s own products. Meaning “to eat one’s own dog food,” the dogfooding refers to the company’s custom of using its own products internally.

Of course, with the company-wide deployment of IE9 on 120,000 computers, Microsoft is somewhat at the end of the road.

Internet Explorer 9 ran on no less than 60,000 machines in Microsoft, with the number only growing to 90,000 when the Release Candidate (RC) Build came out.

“The early deployment of Internet Explorer 9 included diverse groups, including Microsoft IT, the Internet Explorer product group, LOB application developers, and Microsoft employees across the global enterprise. Constructive feedback from Microsoft employees helped the Internet Explorer product group make numerous enhancements, and ultimately helped to produce a higher-quality product,” Microsoft notes.

“Early adoption helped validate the functionality and features of Internet Explorer 9, in addition to the tools and processes used during deployment. It also facilitated the compatibility testing of all LOB applications that are dependent on a Microsoft web browser. Communicating known issues resulted in lower Helpdesk call volumes.”

It’s important to note that while the vast majority of Microsoft employees are on IE9, the IE team has already evolved to the next stage and is dogfooding Internet Explorer 10.

Early adopters outside of Microsoft can already download Platform Preview 1 of IE10 and test it. Testing is all that IE10 PP1 can be used for, since this is not the full browser, but just the core of the next generation of IE.

When it is released, IE10 will support only Windows 8 and Windows 7, Microsoft confirmed.

Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) Platform Preview 1 (PP1) is available for download here.

Windows Internet Explorer 9 RTW for Windows 7 and Windows 7 SP1 is available for download here.