Posted on February 20, 2008 - by Justin Hartman
Windows Internet Explorer for Mac – Finally!
When I was using Debian as my primary operating system I installed a very handy application called ies4linux which allowed me to install and run Windows-based Internet Explorer 6 and 7.
These browsers are able to run on Linux all thanks to the Open Source implementation of the Windows API called Wine which acts as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs. It has been very useful in the past for checking websites for compatibility across the different browsers and I’ve long hoped for a Mac OS X derivative…
Finally it seems some clever person has ported this application to Mac and it’s quite aptly called ies4osx.
Installing ies4osx was relatively simple and as with the Linux derivative it requires a Darwin-based installation of Wine called Darwine. Once everything has been installed you simply open up the browser you want to test on and the results are just awesome.
ies4osx runs off Apple’s X11 implementation and is able to install Internet Explorer versions 5, 5.5, 6.0 (SP1) and 7.0 BETA but it remains a little buggy. The stability issues all relate to the Wine implementation as I had similar stability issues using ies4linux. This is a great step for Apple users and now I can finally uninstall that dual-boot Windows XP from my MacBook Pro.
27 Comments
I'd love to hear yours!
I am a seasoned entrepreneur and currently the CEO of 
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February 20, 2008
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Interesting experiment. Thing is – the general user trend these days has been to move away from IE. Now, unless if some really talented person made a few really well-informed changes to IE7 to make it safer, more user-friendly and less corrosive to other computer activities, I think the public at large will stick to Firefox, Opera and Safari.
But I’m sure this will appeal to a tiny niche of people that use Macs and need IE
~ Wogan
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February 20, 2008
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Interesting experiment. Thing is – the general user trend these days has been to move away from IE. Now, unless if some really talented person made a few really well-informed changes to IE7 to make it safer, more user-friendly and less corrosive to other computer activities, I think the public at large will stick to Firefox, Opera and Safari.
But I'm sure this will appeal to a tiny niche of people that use Macs and need IE
~ Wogan
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February 21, 2008
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Public at large? Wogan, the public at large are IE users. More than 80% of them, thus the need for developers to test in IE6 and IE7.
Obviously Mac users are not really interested in IE, but as I said, web developers need to test for it, so this is a great implementation just for that!
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February 21, 2008
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Yeah Wogan I’m with Jason on this. I need IE6 & 7 to test compatibility issues and since I’m a Mac user testing on these browsers has either meant dual-booting with Windows or installing Parallels or Virtual PC.
This is the best scenario for me and I guess any Mac web-designer or developer.
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February 21, 2008
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As I said – it will appeal to a bunch of people that have Macs and need IE.
Have you tried browsershots.org?
So according to HitsLink, about 75% of internet users worldwide use IE. I’m guessing that the major reason for this is that more than 90% of the desktop OSs in the world are Windows, and that 100% of them have shipped with a version of IE.
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=0
Couple that with a generation of computer users who don’t want to mess around with software installs and plugins and other stuff, and just want Internet access – and you get to 75% very easily.
But what I said is true, in that there is a growing trend to move away from IE: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=1. Note how the numbers changed dramatically after October 2007. Falling almost 1%/year.
Maybe I should have said “stick to switching to Firefox”. FF has just proven itself over and over again. And given that Dell started shipping Ubuntu machines (with FF as the OS’s browser of choice), we might see an even steeper decline in IE popularity.
Unless – as I said – there was an uber-talented MS developer that created a new browser that completely put the rest in the shade, and then shipped it with Windows 7.
All these things take time, so it’ll be a while before we see any of this come to pass.
And as far as development goes – I deliberately use an older version of FF (1.5.0.13). Because if it works on here, it will probably work on any later version of IE, Opera or Safari that you can throw at it
~ Wogan
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February 21, 2008
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Public at large? Wogan, the public at large are IE users. More than 80% of them, thus the need for developers to test in IE6 and IE7.
Obviously Mac users are not really interested in IE, but as I said, web developers need to test for it, so this is a great implementation just for that!
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February 21, 2008
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Wicked cool. Great find Justin, I’m installing it as we speak.
Wogan: Us MAC users would love nothing more than to never touch IE again, but I am a web designer and am installing IE on my MAC purely for testing reasons.
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February 21, 2008
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Yeah Wogan I'm with Jason on this. I need IE6 & 7 to test compatibility issues and since I'm a Mac user testing on these browsers has either meant dual-booting with Windows or installing Parallels or Virtual PC.
This is the best scenario for me and I guess any Mac web-designer or developer.
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February 21, 2008
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As I said – it will appeal to a bunch of people that have Macs and need IE.
Have you tried browsershots.org?
So according to HitsLink, about 75% of internet users worldwide use IE. I'm guessing that the major reason for this is that more than 90% of the desktop OSs in the world are Windows, and that 100% of them have shipped with a version of IE.
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qpr…
Couple that with a generation of computer users who don't want to mess around with software installs and plugins and other stuff, and just want Internet access – and you get to 75% very easily.
But what I said is true, in that there is a growing trend to move away from IE: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qpr…. Note how the numbers changed dramatically after October 2007. Falling almost 1%/year.
Maybe I should have said “stick to switching to Firefox”. FF has just proven itself over and over again. And given that Dell started shipping Ubuntu machines (with FF as the OS's browser of choice), we might see an even steeper decline in IE popularity.
Unless – as I said – there was an uber-talented MS developer that created a new browser that completely put the rest in the shade, and then shipped it with Windows 7.
All these things take time, so it'll be a while before we see any of this come to pass.
And as far as development goes – I deliberately use an older version of FF (1.5.0.13). Because if it works on here, it will probably work on any later version of IE, Opera or Safari that you can throw at it
~ Wogan
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February 21, 2008
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Wicked cool. Great find Justin, I'm installing it as we speak.
Wogan: Us MAC users would love nothing more than to never touch IE again, but I am a web designer and am installing IE on my MAC purely for testing reasons.
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February 22, 2008
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[...] Justin Hartman blogged about a neat little app for Mac that allowed you to run IE7. I personally found that a little pointless, given that there’s a [...]
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February 22, 2008
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[...] Justin Hartman blogged about a neat little app for Mac that allowed you to run IE7. I personally found that a little pointless, given that there’s a [...]
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February 27, 2008
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hello.
i’m anything but an experienced computer user but have stumbled across this blog while looking for a way to get IE on my mac. the ibook G4 is fresh out the box and i have no idea what all these different downloads you mention are or how to get/use them. i urgently need IE to access a site that would allow me to work free lance as a translator and i need the cash this would bring even more urgently. would anyone be so kind as to give me a little step-by-step guide to getting all the required downloads and running IE.
i understand this may be a little naive but the truth is i’m almost clueless where to start.
thanks for any help
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February 27, 2008
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hello.
i'm anything but an experienced computer user but have stumbled across this blog while looking for a way to get IE on my mac. the ibook G4 is fresh out the box and i have no idea what all these different downloads you mention are or how to get/use them. i urgently need IE to access a site that would allow me to work free lance as a translator and i need the cash this would bring even more urgently. would anyone be so kind as to give me a little step-by-step guide to getting all the required downloads and running IE.
i understand this may be a little naive but the truth is i'm almost clueless where to start.
thanks for any help
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May 14, 2008
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This is a good development. I need to test stuff with ActiveX, thing that I couldn’t do on my Mac up until now (unless booting with Vista)
Cheers,
Fred
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May 14, 2008
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This is a good development. I need to test stuff with ActiveX, thing that I couldn't do on my Mac up until now (unless booting with Vista)
Cheers,
Fred
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July 1, 2008
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Wonderful. I will be installing this shortly. Sometimes worlds must collide. I have been on both sides of this debate in the web design world, and the painful truth is that in order to break it, you have to test it. And in order to test it, you either need a PC with IE or a way to emulate it. Thanks for this find.
Also, because not everyone codes for both platforms or all browsers, sometimes even MAC people have to search out IE to access a site they really need – Pete is a good case in point. Or my client, that needs to FTP from her browser and is on a PC, only IE will do that in BOTH directions. She doesn’t want to use an FTP program and the client is always right. Thus, I need to test my FTP setting in IE on the MAC….
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July 1, 2008
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Wonderful. I will be installing this shortly. Sometimes worlds must collide. I have been on both sides of this debate in the web design world, and the painful truth is that in order to break it, you have to test it. And in order to test it, you either need a PC with IE or a way to emulate it. Thanks for this find.
Also, because not everyone codes for both platforms or all browsers, sometimes even MAC people have to search out IE to access a site they really need – Pete is a good case in point. Or my client, that needs to FTP from her browser and is on a PC, only IE will do that in BOTH directions. She doesn't want to use an FTP program and the client is always right. Thus, I need to test my FTP setting in IE on the MAC….
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December 3, 2008
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I am just a little ol’ end user….who LOVES her Mac… but have a need for IE, for a specific website that requires it… any other simple solution?
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December 3, 2008
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Beth, try this online service http://ipinfo.info/netrenderer/
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December 28, 2008
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Hi Justin, just wanted to say thanks for this article mate.
This is a lifesaver
I am a web designer and have needed to get this functionality on my mac for a while.
I can only assume that Microsoft and Apple are still having a bit of a tiff about the whole advertising campaign as the link to download I.E on microsoft.com no longer works! lol
Anyway, this has helped me a lot so thanks again!
Tom
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March 7, 2009
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Thank you for this incredibly valuable information. I have been looking for a solution to get IE on my mac for ages to test the websites I develop and this is a great solution. One question though, I’ve installed Darwin and ies4osx and I got Internet Explorer 6, which is great. But in your blog, you mentioned that ies4osx could install IE 5, 5.5, 6 and 7 beta and I can’t find how to do this. I looked in the toolbar of ies4osx app, but couldn’t find anything about this. Could you give me some advice here? Many thanks in advance!
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March 25, 2009
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I want to purchase a mac but must have windows ie for work. Only program MLS
will connect to.
Which program is the best to use to get this.
Thanks
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May 13, 2009
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Wogan, I totally agree with you except I think you’re missing one thing.
There are still some very slow Internet progressives like isqft dotcom which is a great site for the construction industry but they are still only set up for IE 6.0 or better and those of us that are in the NOW are having to look for useful tools like the IE for MacOS so that Fusion and Parallel doesn’t have to be deployed for a site visit.
All my best,
FONDA
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May 20, 2009
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Thanks Justin! This totally saved me more hassle and frustration than IE already creates. I didn’t want to buy windows software just to test IE. Great find.
Jennie
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December 9, 2009
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It’s not just web developers who need IE. My UK bank is First Direct. Their internet banking only works with IE. You try it: http://www.firstdirect.com, then click the ‘internet banking plus’ link. You get a window saying Oops, incompatible browser. I’d switch banks in a second, but as I now live and work in New Zealand I doubt I could open a new account with another bank.
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June 6, 2011
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Ohh…Woe is meee! I’m a Mac “not so expert, but loyal user” AND big fan…. that izz…. until I gotta collaborate with some ol “has-been” IE/Windows users. So I go in search of answers.. only to find myself chasing hundreds of lil’ white ‘url’ rabbits & falling into seemingly endless pits of despair. This is definitely NOT Wonderland!.. & pretty soon, if I can’t work this out… its gonna be OFF WITH MY HEAD!
Hey Justin, honey, sweetie, angel… u plan’n any trips 2 Bangkok? hehe I need someone to come & see the havoc I’ve created on my poor lil’ Mac baby & show me the way home! Dare I try your ies4osx advice?
Well “Braveheart” here is going for glory! I guess decapitation isn’t all that bad.. after all, poor Joan OA was burned alive! Wish me luck! This is only 1 of many problems, but I’ll be back to thank you if this solves at least 1 of em’.