We are NOT Killbit-ing MSXML4!

Hello All,

In March , we posted our intention to killbit MSXML4  and encouraged users to move to MSXML6 and asked for feedback – And we received lots and lots of it. The summary is MSXML4 is still being used extensively and the suggested timeframe for killbit seemed aggressive for most customers. The lack of CAB for MSXML6 was also making the migration difficult.

So in the best interest of our customers , we have decided to NOT killbit MSXML4.

Our goal with the killbit was to ensure our customers have a safe browsing experience. And that goal is still very important to us even though we are not proceeding with the killbit.

To address this , we are working on 2 things –

 1. Fixing any security issues in MSXML4 and releasing an updated binary that our customers can use while they migrate to MSXML6

 2. Getting MSXML6 in band on all supported Operating Systems so that lack of a CAB does not prohibit anybody.

We would like to stress that MSXML4 will only be updated for security issues and is in a maintenance mode. Any/All functionality & performance improvements WILL ONLY be made in MSXML6, so all new applications should be taking dependency on MSXML6 and existing applications need to be migrated to MSXML6 in reasonable timeframe.

We are working on the details on an updated MSXML4 release timeline and will update the community as soon as we have that timeline.

We are still listening at  msxml4@microsoft.com .So if you have any questions/comments or need help with migration to MSXML6 , please tell us!!!

Resources:

MSXML6 can be downloaded from https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d21c292c-368b-4ce1-9dab-3e9827b70604&displaylang=en

Migration guide to MSXML6 available at https://blogs.msdn.com/xmlteam/archive/2007/03/12/upgrading-to-msxml-6-0.aspx

Details on using the right MSXML version at https://blogs.msdn.com/xmlteam/archive/2006/10/23/using-the-right-version-of-msxml-in-internet-explorer.aspx

Thanks

Nithya Sampathkumar

Program Manager