RemoteIE

[metal_remco]

Today Microsoft launched RemoteIE, it's a cloud based solution to get Internet Explorer on other Operating Systems than Windows. For webdevelopers who develop on Linux and OSX and want to make their website compatible with Internet Explorer this is great news. Instead of making a dedicated virtual machine, you just login and download the app and it connects to the Azure cloud platform.

 

There are some drawbacks:

• You'll be logged out after 10 minutes of inactivity.
• A session can only last up to 60 minutes, after that you need to log out and log back in.
• It will only work with publicly available website, so your localhost development environment is off limits.
• The perfomance isn't the same, there is no gpu acceleration.

I think it's a good move from Microsoft to release a way to view their browser on a different operating system. Since I mostly develop websites on Linux, I found it irritating that I needed another computer/virtual machine just to check if a website was compatible with the different Internet Explorer versions.

 

Sources:

http://tweakers.net/nieuws/99429/microsoft-brengt-internet-explorer-naar-os-x-ios-en-android-met-remoteie.html (dutch)

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2014/11/02/announcing-remoteie-test-the-latest-ie-on-windows-mac-os-x-ios-and-android.aspx

https://www.modern.ie/en-us

[RainfallWithin]

This is good news. I'm happy that Microsoft have taken a step to make it easier for web developers to test on different operating systems, although why the time limits?

[metal_remco]

This is good news. I'm happy that Microsoft have taken a step to make it easier for web developers to test on different operating systems, although why the time limits?

 

They say it is to conserver server resources, but I think eventually there will be a paid version without the time limits. Otherwise it doesn't makes sense to me to put time limits in the program.

[Tygron]

They're really desperate to have people use IE aren't they? Forgive me if I miss the point, but unless the developers are pushing their builds to a public server this can't be used as a development tool. So... all I see is desperation for "PLEASE LOVE US" which is just bad. I mean I remember seeing ads in movie theaters for IE and on TV and stuff. Like it's a free product that updates pretty much automatically if you have your PC setup for it (like most common folk using their computers) so... I just don't get why they had to spend the money to I suppose target people who use Firefox or Chrome to switch back. Seems like a real waste of time, money, and effort to just look like they're desperate for us to use their FREE stuff.

[Ren]

They're really desperate to have people use IE aren't they?

Implying Chrome/Firefox are streamlined, flawless browsers... Not really related to the main post either.

Safari and Opera I can't comment on since I don't have recent experience with either but from what I remember, Opera is much like Firefox. Except I believe it has more web development support..? Eh, someone can correct me on that if they wish.

Been waiting for more IE news. This is more than just interesting stuff too because it's useful from the get-go.

[Opcode]

Good news for IE users I guess. Especially considering Microsoft wanted to reinvent the wheel known as the web standard at one time. So many websites to this day still break when using IE because of how it handles things differently than other mainstream browsers.

[RainfallWithin]

They're really desperate to have people use IE aren't they? Forgive me if I miss the point, but unless the developers are pushing their builds to a public server this can't be used as a development tool. So... all I see is desperation for "PLEASE LOVE US" which is just bad. I mean I remember seeing ads in movie theaters for IE and on TV and stuff. Like it's a free product that updates pretty much automatically if you have your PC setup for it (like most common folk using their computers) so... I just don't get why they had to spend the money to I suppose target people who use Firefox or Chrome to switch back. Seems like a real waste of time, money, and effort to just look like they're desperate for us to use their FREE stuff.

 

Your comments suggest you did not read the article properly. This is not some sort of scheme to persuade normal internet users to switch to Internet Explorer. They are providing an easier way for developers to test that their websites will work correctly with Internet Explorer if they are using an operating system other than Windows.

[Altecice]

Not being able to test website locally seems a weird thing to do? I guess you are right when you say they will push a paid service with enhanced abilities.

[Misanthrope]

Today Microsoft launched RemoteIE, it's a cloud based solution to get Internet Explorer on other Operating Systems than Windows.

[Tygron]

Your comments suggest you did not read the article properly. This is not some sort of scheme to persuade normal internet users to switch to Internet Explorer. They are providing an easier way for developers to test that their websites will work correctly with Internet Explorer if they are using an operating system other than Windows.

That's what it sounded like, but without being able to use the local files you're stuck with whatever you can get onto a server. And that's all well and good but I feel it would be easier and better to use local files. I understand since they're using a cloud based version, your local files aren't what the systems local files are. But just seems like a few too many hoops to jump through. I get it, it's a small sacrifice to make but meh... I dunno i'm not a web developer. I learned a bit in school but it's not something I wanna pursue.

 

But if there's more to it, no i'm not really getting it.

[StingBull]

Implying Chrome/Firefox are streamlined, flawless browsers... Not really related to the main post either.

Safari and Opera I can't comment on since I don't have recent experience with either but from what I remember, Opera is much like Firefox. Except I believe it has more web development support..? Eh, someone can correct me on that if they wish.

Maybe Opera was like that some years ago but ever since they dropped their own Presto engine Opera has been nothing but an inferior Chrome-clone. In fact, it is literally Chrome with a different skin. Seriously Google analytics cannot tell the difference between the two.

[metal_remco]

Not being able to test website locally seems a weird thing to do? I guess you are right when you say they will push a paid service with enhanced abilities.

 

 

That's what it sounded like, but without being able to use the local files you're stuck with whatever you can get onto a server. And that's all well and good but I feel it would be easier and better to use local files. I understand since they're using a cloud based version, your local files aren't what the systems local files are. But just seems like a few too many hoops to jump through. I get it, it's a small sacrifice to make but meh... I dunno i'm not a web developer. I learned a bit in school but it's not something I wanna pursue.

 

But if there's more to it, no i'm not really getting it.

 

I think you could get this to work with your local files. But you need to run some sort of webserver on your computer and open up the right ports on your firewall to make it publicly accessible, so that the Microsoft server can access your local files through the internet.

 

Eventually, it will safe you the time to get a virtual environment running and making your website available to the virtual environment. Or having to reboot or changing computers all the time.

 

It's not a big deal if you are not a webdeveloper, but in the end it shouldn't be a big deal to anyone if companies just made their software compatible with other Operating Systems.

[Tygron]

I think you could get this to work with your local files. But you need to run some sort of webserver on your computer and open up the right ports on your firewall to make it publicly accessible, so that the Microsoft server can access your local files through the internet.

 

Eventually, it will safe you the time to get a virtual environment running and making your website available to the virtual environment. Or having to reboot or changing computers all the time.

 

It's not a big deal if you are not a webdeveloper, but in the end it shouldn't be a big deal to anyone if companies just made their software compatible with other Operating Systems.

Yea I suppose that would work too. If you're a developer of any kind you're probably willing to jump through some hoops like that to get the job done. And from a developers standpoint this does sound pretty awesome. I can't say i've run into many issues with sites not working with certain browsers (except the one time the Titanfall site just didn't work with Firefox at all when I was trying to get into the beta) and everything pretty much looks the same everywhere. But I suppose that means the developer is doing their job. So good on Microsoft for doing this. Initially I just thought it was them trying to get more people to use IE. And i've heard IE isn't as bad as it was a few years ago but, i've more than moved on now and I don't wanna give it another shot unless it's actually giving me something Firefox and Chrome don't. (yea I know a few others exist too, but these are the ones I use)