THINGS THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST: Internet Explorer for UNIX
If you know anything about early Microsoft, it seems very odd to think of them having anything to do with UNIX in any form. After all, one of the main goals of Windows NT was to make Microsoft a viable competitor in the workstation and server fields. It thus begs the question of just why Microsoft took the effort to port Internet Explorer to their most fierce competitors. After teasing my IE for UNIX during my Solaris 7 video, I felt dig need deeper.
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Chapter Marks:
00:00 – Intro and Installation
02:28 – Struggling With Solaris 7 Patch Madnesss
05:10 – Exploring Internet Explorer for UNIX
09:46 – Outlook Express on UNIX
13:00 – What Actually Makes Up IE/UNIX?
14:29 – Introducing Mainsoft and the Windows Integrated Source Environment
17:30 – Visual SourceSafe for UNIX
19:09 – Why does IE/UNIX Exist?
20:32 – Closing
In truth, this wasn’t my first experience with Internet Explorer for UNIX. Back in 2012, I had an opportunity to explore it remotely via X11 forwarding, and I learned enough to keep me interested. However, because IE for UNIX required either a HP-UX install, or old Solaris to work, I didn’t really have much opportunity to research it further. Digging into Solaris 7 gave me the excuse I needed dig in deep, and begin putting this mystery together.
From struggling through finding old Solaris patch sets, kernel panics, and more, I finally managed to get Internet Explorer for UNIX to load up. It quickly becomes apparent that there’s quite a lot more here than just a simple port of IE. Through testing IE for UNIX appears to incorporate a lot of specific Windows technologies. Through testing, VBScript and more works, showing that is a true port of the Trident rendering engine to Solaris, and that raises even more answers than it answers.
By doing some simple reverse engineering, and a lot of searching, I eventually learned that IE for UNIX was made by company called Mainsoft, who, rather notably,was responsible for the Windows source code leak in 2004. Mainsoft had been part of a program from Microsoft known as the “Windows Integrated Source Environment” or WISE where Microsoft licensed the source code of Windows to various companies to create third party products. This lead to the creation of Visual MainWin, a toolkit that exists to help port Windows software to Linux.
What I found shocked me. Mainsoft had ported the core Windows API and more to run ontop of UNIX. Infact IE for UNIX ships with a fairly complete set of files that won’t look out of place in Windows system32!. This finally began to let me put the pieces of the puzzle together, and by digging through their website on the Internet Archive, I finally put all the pieces together. I … also managed to find Visual SourceSafe for UNIX, whch tells me some ancient horrors should just remained buried.
Afterwards, we walk through the how and why. I’d love to hear your own theories on why IE for UNIX is a thing, and more. This is NCmmander, signing out.
Music Provided by Epidemic Sound. Tracks, in order of performance:
-Sumerian Paradise – Dew Of Light
-Extravaganza – Jules Gaia
-The Forest Grand – Trevor Kowalski
-Circular Thought – Ethan Sloan
– Tiny Soul – Spectacles Wallet and Watch
– Chef Extraordinaire – Trabant 33
– What We Discovered – Philip Ayers
– Truth Interlapse – Robert Ruth
– Melted Mind – Max Anson
– Hidden in the Snow – Jon Bjork
#ncommander #unix #internetexplorer
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