5 ms·

"Until...all major modern OSes come with a built in scriptable headless browser engine, which would be a game-changer." Ah, yes. Internet Explorer, they called

by SiVal 6y ago

"Until...all major modern OSes come with a built in scriptable headless browser engine, which would be a game-changer." Ah, yes. Internet Explorer, they called it. Built right into the OS. A game changer. Funny how the meaning of something (goodness/badness/motives/...) can change as circumstances change.

tomashubelbauer 6y ago
I think for "all major modern OSS" to apply we need at least Windows and macOS support. Internet Explorer never fit this description. Edit: This comment is wrong - looks like IE did fit this description before my time. :-)
- Fnoord 6y ago
  Internet Explorer ran on macOS back when it was relevant. It got discontinued after Safari was released. Also, Internet Explorer was ported to various Unices. It just never got ported to a Linux-kernel based OS. If software like this is FOSS, relies on open standards, and is designed architect independent it can be run on virtually anything. Including something which is rising in popularity.
  - eropple 6y ago
    Not only was there IE for Mac -- at the time, it was actually a pretty decent browser. Bit rotted over time, but there was a stretch when your choices were a really janky Netscape and IE for Mac, and the choice as I recall it was pretty easy.
    - pseudosavant 6y ago
      Not only was it pretty decent, it was far more standards compliant than the Windows IE. I don't think they actually shared much code wise. At least developing for IE on Mac felt like adding another browser to test.
- deergomoo 6y ago
  People forget that when OS X launched IE was the default browser :)
  - dagw 6y ago
    Plus there was an X Windows version that ran on Solaris. I'm sure making it work on Linux would have been quite possible had they wanted to.
  - watersb 6y ago
    IE on Mac was a different code base, different layout engine, and did not run ActiveX plugins. It was a good browser at the time, and helped move the OS X platform forward. Perhaps even a vital part of the software support available at release. But it wasn't IE6. All that corporate ActiveX, DCOM software could not be deployed on it. Microsoft grew multiple platforms to address this, for 20 years, but that's another story (that may also be relevant to the article).
- jmnicolas 6y ago
  The first computer I bought with my own money was an iMac running at 266 Mhz (not the first gen running 33Mhz slower!), Mac OS 8 something and Internet Explorer 5 I think. Google didn't exist or wasn't evil yet and finding things was quite difficult specially at dial-up "speed".

by SiVal 6y ago

tomashubelbauer 6y ago

I think for "all major modern OSS" to apply we need at least Windows and macOS support. Internet Explorer never fit this description. Edit: This comment is wrong - looks like IE did fit this description before my time. :-)

Fnoord 6y ago
Internet Explorer ran on macOS back when it was relevant. It got discontinued after Safari was released. Also, Internet Explorer was ported to various Unices. It just never got ported to a Linux-kernel based OS. If software like this is FOSS, relies on open standards, and is designed architect independent it can be run on virtually anything. Including something which is rising in popularity.
- eropple 6y ago
  Not only was there IE for Mac -- at the time, it was actually a pretty decent browser. Bit rotted over time, but there was a stretch when your choices were a really janky Netscape and IE for Mac, and the choice as I recall it was pretty easy.
  - pseudosavant 6y ago
    Not only was it pretty decent, it was far more standards compliant than the Windows IE. I don't think they actually shared much code wise. At least developing for IE on Mac felt like adding another browser to test.
deergomoo 6y ago
People forget that when OS X launched IE was the default browser :)
- dagw 6y ago
  Plus there was an X Windows version that ran on Solaris. I'm sure making it work on Linux would have been quite possible had they wanted to.
- watersb 6y ago
  IE on Mac was a different code base, different layout engine, and did not run ActiveX plugins. It was a good browser at the time, and helped move the OS X platform forward. Perhaps even a vital part of the software support available at release. But it wasn't IE6. All that corporate ActiveX, DCOM software could not be deployed on it. Microsoft grew multiple platforms to address this, for 20 years, but that's another story (that may also be relevant to the article).
jmnicolas 6y ago
The first computer I bought with my own money was an iMac running at 266 Mhz (not the first gen running 33Mhz slower!), Mac OS 8 something and Internet Explorer 5 I think. Google didn't exist or wasn't evil yet and finding things was quite difficult specially at dial-up "speed".