• games a - z
• apps
• guides
• forum
• irc
• about

This page is a wiki. Please login or create an account to begin editing.

Internet Explorer 5.5b1 Macintosh Edition Preview

There do not seem to be any major issues with this unofficial beta release. It is OK. Not as full featured (compared to Classilla or WaMCom Mozilla on Mac OS 8.6/9.x), but runs well enough.
Note: Read Compatibility section below; "If installing on Mac OS's pre 8.6".

From the included ReadMe file:

"Welcome to the Internet Explorer 5.5b1 Macintosh Edition Preview for MacHack 2000 attendees. This release is an unfinished product and is only available as a technology preview for attendees of MacHack 2000. Microsoft offers no support or warranty on this preview release. Please consult the EULA in the Internet Explorer 5.5b1 folder before using this beta.

This document outlines some of the features of this release. As with any beta product, caution should be used when using Internet Explorer 5.5b1 Macintosh Edition. Furthermore, the feature set of this preview are NOT reflective of the final product and are subject to change. Lastly, this Preview is not Carbon compliant..."

I recommend that if you download, before running "Internet Explorer 5.5b1 Macintosh Edition Preview" for the first time, view the ReadMe file, and determine for yourself if you wish to trial this beta software.

I've installed this "MacHack 2000" beta release on SheepShaver running Mac OS 8.6 and it seems to behave much the same as previous IE versions. My emulator is still in one piece and its host OS hasn't gone into melt-down.

- I have since tried it out on Mac OS's 7.6.1, 8.1 & 8.5 OK, too. Overall it seems quite stable and reliable - but I did experience initial hard crashes in SheepShaver with these earlier systems - read the paragraph beginning "If installing on Mac OS's pre 8.6", below.

Overall thoughts? No tabbed browsing and its not carbonized (won't run native on OS X). This version of Internet Explorer will run on much earlier Mac OS's than Classilla or WaMCom Mozilla and is at least 5 times faster at starting up than those Mozilla variants. Its quite a good browser if running an earlier classic Mac OS.

_____________
CNN Tech article about the MacHack 2000 IE preview: Microsoft hacks IE 5.5 for Mac (Wayback Machine).

Compatibility
Architecture: PPC

If installing on Mac OS's pre 8.6 and you find it crashes on 1st run. Try installing the included "Microsoft Internet First Run" app manually (double-click and install this 1st), its located inside of the "Microsoft Internet Self-Repair" folder. I found this helped in getting IE 5.5 to run happily on earlier systems.

• Minimum System Requirements:
  • Macintosh with a PowerPC processor
  • Macintosh OS version 7.6.1 or later
  • 8 MB of available RAM with Virtual Memory on
  • 12 MB of available hard disk space for Internet Explorer
  • QuickTime version 3.0 or later; version 4.0 or later is required to use the Media Toolbar
  • Internet Software:
    • Open Transport 1.2 or later
    • For dial-up connections, OT PPP or similar PPP connection software (control panel) with PPP (extension)

☃Disclaimer: Macintosh Garden does not claim rights to any software on the site. To the best of our knowledge, these titles have been discontinued by their publishers. If you know otherwise, please contact us and we will remove them accordingly. Thank you for your attention.