Legally Speaking, You Just Can’t Use IE in Ubuntu

Posted by Pubudu Kodikara on Oct 17, 2009 in Linux, Reviews | 1 comment

Recently I switched to Ubuntu from Windows XP in my office. And as I am doing some UI stuff, I thought it would be better if I can manage to have a live preview of the web pages in IE. But sadly speaking, if you want to do it 100% legally, you just can’t! Why? Let’s explore some options :

If you are long enough in Ubuntu & web development, you must have heard of IEs4Linux. But did you ever look at the legal notice on their site? This is what they have to say

Note that to install any MS program included on IEs4Linux, you need a valid

Windows license. IEs4Linux will not ask for it and you can run everything

without any problem even if you don’t have a license. But it is illegal and

I have not to do with this.

So practically, if you are using Ubuntu for valid free OS, you are violating some legal rule in some other way.

• You can use VirtualBox to install IE7 or IE8. But for that, you need Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image. Though you can download it for free, but converting the image from .vhd to .vdi is against EULA.
• And, last option may be sneaking in a preview through Mozilla Firefox add-ons like IE Tabs. But you can’t install these kind of add-ons in Firefox in Ubuntu because these add-ons use Internet Explorer’s rendering engine. So, if you don’t have IE installed, how can you get the rendering engine!

Sadly, you have to rely on some computer that has valid Windows OS. So though there are so many threads about IE in Ubuntu, if you want to do it legal, you are not allowed to do that.

Author : Anirban Roy

Website : I Am Blogging (It is a blog about blogging, webmaster & SEO tips. Check it out also for information on free webmaster services & solving common problems.)