I’ve already had a couple inquiries about today’s IE 7 distribution announcement. Their concern is specifically around how to block IE 7 upgrades in a managed environment. Apparently Microsoft anticipated this level of concern, and they’ve posted an FAQ for your viewing pleasure.
Bottom line: Customers will have more ways to block IE 7 than they can shake a stick at… including SMS, WSUS, Group Policy, and a dedicated blocking tool.
One cool thing you’ll notice in the FAQ is that installing the blocking tool today won’t prevent you from being able to distribute IE 7 at a future date using WSUS or SMS – or by manually installing it from Windows/Microsoft Update. All the blocking tool does is prevent the unmanaged Automatic Updates service from downloading/installing IE 7.