Sep 6, 2010 11:15 GMT  ·  By

Guidance and resources are available to customers looking to kick off the aging Internet Explorer 6 browser in favor of the latest release of IE.

An illustrative example in this regard, is the upcoming Springboard Series Virtual Roundtable titled Migrating from Windows Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP to Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7: Strategy, Standards, and Support.

The Virtual Roundtable is scheduled for September 30, 2010 – 9:00 AM Pacific Time, and will allow participants to interact with the panel of experts hosting the event.

They will be able to ask questions during the event, but also send their inquiries beforehand to Microsoft using this email address: vrtable at microsoft.com.

According to Microsoft, the virtual roundtable will be focused on migrating from IE6 to IE8 in the context in which customers still rely on Internet Explorer 6 for their business applications.

“Join us live at 9:00 AM Pacific Time on Thursday, September 30, 2010 for a virtual, interactive roundtable discussion on migration strategies, standards, and support for organizations moving from Internet Explorer 6 to Internet Explorer 8,” Microsoft noted.

While being stuck on IE6 is not really a problem for end users, the same is not valid for businesses. In fact there are a variety of factors limiting the adoption of new software in an IT infrastructure.

In some case, business users depend on legacy web apps which are tailored specifically to IE6, and will not work on IE8. But solutions do exist.

“As organizations deploy Windows 7, many still depend on web applications that were designed for Internet Explorer 6,” the Redmond company notes. “Will they still work, and what can you do when they don’t?”

“Join a panel of IT Professionals, Microsoft specialists and technical experts to discuss best practices to simplify and accelerate the migration to Internet Explorer 8."

“Topics will include an explanation of the causes of and solutions for application compatibility issues (including policy, code, and virtualization solutions), an introduction to tools, and a review of best practices,” the software giant added.

At the end of August 2010, Stephen L Rose, Sr. Community Manager - Windows IT Pro Client, published a blog post focused on making it easy for customers to continue using IE6 even in the context of the migration to Windows 7.

“Over the past few months, many of you have shared with me your need to continue to be able to offer support for Internet Explorer 6 specific application while rolling out Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 into your organization,” Rose stated.

“Suggestions for walkthroughs, papers and application compatibility lists were made by many of you. Based on those conversations, I am very happy to offer (…) resources to help you.”

Rose suggested a number of offerings available from Microsoft, designed to enable customers to adopt Windows 7 and IE8 but still use apps that require IE6.

- Migrating from Windows Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP to Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7: Strategy, Standards, and Support

- Internet Explorer 8 Application Compatibility List for IT professionals

- Addressing Application Compatibility When Migrating to Internet Explorer 8

- Internet Explorer local URL lockdown restriction

- Solving Enterprise Application Compatibility Issues with Internet Explorer 8 (Part 1 of 2) and (Part 2 of 2)

- Internet Explorer Virtualization with MED-V

Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) RTW is available for download here (for 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008).

Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview 4 Build 1.9.7.9.16.6000 is available for download
here.