This month I've gotta get some more XP professional copies. However, for web development, it needs to be IE7 free to run IE6 natively. Does anyone know which version can be bought now that would not include IE6? Thanks
Why would you need IE6 instead of IE7 anyway? If it's for testing your designs for cross browser compatibility issues then why don't you purchase your XP licenses without worrying about the IE version, and then get this nice package installed: http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE
My work machine is XP SP2, and I added the tredosoft IE's Clive mentioned. They do NOT run like native IE6, that is true. What I would do if I were you is, download IE7 as a standalone and keep your native IE6. Mostly it's Flash and Javascript that you can't test real well with non-native IE6. If you're only worried about general web page testing the Tredosoft versions do fine.
Could you point out any particular differences between a native IE6 and an install that we mentioned at the beginning of this thread? I have not noticed any so far, just curious...
Yeah, first the Tredosoft IE's use the current Javascript management they added to IE7, according to the site somewhere (I read it on the site somewhere and kept it in mind). So fake IE6 reacts exactly as IE7 as far as scripts. On a site where I had a Flash banner, I had a lot of trouble initially getting the Flash to play fully (it loaded, but didn't play) using the Satay method of embedding (no embed tag). A colleague of mine has a laptop with native IE6 and the Flash displayed as I meant it to. Apparently there are some changed with other things like ActiveX controls too (though I haven't tested those, only heard about them). I never used the IE6 toolbar but it's not with Tredosoft's version. Also, there are little bugs like you can crash a native ie6 with a div id called "tags" + printing the page. I otherwise use the Tredosoft IE6, because I'd already lost the native IE6 when I upgraded to 7. For box model, the Tredosoft was fine. I only noticed issues with objects and the such. As I understand though, downloading the "standalone" version of IE7 means it does not replace 6.
I don't think there were too many changes made to the IE7 JavaScript engine from 6 - none that have, so far, caused trouble. Rendering and Active X are big ones. However, when developing on a large JavaScript application, the inability to access IE6 natively has caused some difficulties. The main few being proxy configurations and when opening new windows, it forces the default OS browser (which is 7). The copy of XP pro I have at the moment is a new one and comes bundled with IE7 as default. Not ideal. As expensive it is, it's better to have multiple VMs with different versions on for pure testing in the right environments. Secondary to that, pure IE6 with IE7 standalone.
As I see it, Adam, you will either need to buy used copies of XP or try to find the few remaining machines/laptops out there with XP. I can't think of any other way to get native IE6, sorry. As much as I want those with IE6 to upgrade to 7, I don't like that it's completely wiped out when 7 comes and to hear that there are copies of XP now with 7, that sucks (for us-- great for the users). On the other hand, with all the publicity over people "upgrading" from Vista back to XP, maybe there'll be more copies available.