IE web development expands to support OS X, Android and iOS via RemoteIE

By John Callaham
last updated

Microsoft is giving web developers a way to run Internet Explorer on nearly every major operating system via a new service called RemoteIE, Simply put, it will let them use the browser on OS X, iOS or Android devices, in addition to Windows, via the Azure RemoteApp, without the need for a typical virtual machine.

The version of IE that's can run on the RemoteIE system is the same one that's available with the recently launched Windows 10 Technical Preview. Microsoft stated:

"The Azure RemoteApp preview builds on the Windows Server Remote Desktop Services infrastructure while also leveraging Azure's global scale and utility-grade reliability. The service, released to preview in May, enables you to run Windows applications on a variety of devices from the Azure cloud. RemoteIE provides access to the latest Internet Explorer on the Technical Preview via Azure RemoteApp. With RemoteIE, you can test the latest preview version of IE from your Windows, Mac, Android or iOS device. Once you're set up with the RemoteApp client for your platform, you will be streaming IE from the Azure cloud within seconds."

There are a few caveats with RemoteIE. One is that Azure RemoteApp only works with Windows Server 2012 or later versions of the server OS. Also, each session lasts for only 60 minutes so developers will have to log in again after that time limit is up to continue. However, this should give those website creators a number of new options when developing sites that are designed to work with the latest build of IE.

Is Microsoft doing a better job in adding more developer support for Internet Explorer, including from non-Windows users?

Source: IE blog (opens in new tab)

John Callaham
John Callaham
59 Comments
  • That's good!
  • Lol no one on the other platforms is gonna use this...
  • Any web developer worth hiring would, and I suspect that's their target market for this service.
  • Many people I got to using WP's are like WTF when they know they'll have to use IE... Let alone users of other platforms!
  • And yet, IE 11 is the most used web browser, ahead of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.
  • People who know what can it do will definitely use it on any platform Dennisvdg:P
  • This is not for end users. It's for devs to easily test on latest preview version of IE so their apps are ready when that version rolls out
  • Is there a RemoteApp client on WP?
  • No... You already have IE.
  • silly, Satya made it clear that the strategy is "everything but windows first" so no.
  • It's expected to become available in the Remote Desktop client soon.
  • I don't care if they offer to more platforms or not ... fix it for once and for all ... its pain for development 
  • Care to explain how?
  • developer tool still immature compared to other modern browsers. need to improve on html5 score. again there is no web store like FF and Chrome ... still lot of crashing issues when I open gdrive, fb etc.. no frequent updates like other browsers...
  • I agree on the web store part.
    I haven't yet experienced frequent crashes.
    I don't know what more can you expect from the developer tool. If I'm not mistaken, one can create toolbars, add ons, search providers etc. so isn't that enough?
  • That really had nothing to do with what this is about...
  • may be not ... all I care is ...put efforts in right place ... so that developers dont have to write IE related patches 
  • Gotta tell you, I develop websites 8-10 hours a day and I never have to write workarounds for IE11. The only time you need to do that is if you write code that is specific to Chrome or Firefox first rather than following standards. In fact I find myself writing workarounds for Chrome and Firefox more and more often lately.
  • I see a lot of crash of firefox, on ie 11 are rare lucklily
  • How are developer tools immature when you can use a real debugger like Visual Studio? Also, HTML5 tests are so far based on drafts and browser vendor proposals testing for non official features found only on either Mozilla or Webkit. Im pretty sure performance and stability issues are getting fixed as part of system updates only you cannot see the number version growing. Also, they have to think about enterprise users who dont't want to test and deploy a new major version every week and don't forget enterprises who don't want to switch from IE6 because their systems will break apart otherwise.
  • well I don't use visual studio for web development ... so cant say ... but their apache cordova integration uses Chrome for simulation and not their own IE :P 
  • So you don't use their own software like visual studio and then say their tools are immature. Just admit that the easiest browser of the big three to code for is IE and you don't use it's native tools. When I develope code on the side there is constant extra CSS tricks to make sure ff and chrome handle it correctly. That is not mature nor easier.
  • The reason for no web store is the lack of real extension support in IE. Allegedly the new version of IE that will be shipping on Win10 will finally support extensions. From that I think you can probably expect a web store too. It will be a section of the Windows app store if I had to guess.
  • HTML score lists things like VP8 and VP9. How can you knock MS for not adopting a Google format when they are waiting on the HEVC. WebRT when they have their own CU-RTC. IE covers the relevant part of HTML5 and HTML5 is still in draft. IE crashes the least. Chrome I can crash easily. Forget startup time, in use for things like streaming and graphic internsive websites IE utilises hardware acceleration better than all other browsers. The days of IE specfics are long gone, other than its not webkit(blink) or gecko. From IE 10 it passed the Acid 3 test. Press F12 in IE and explain where IE is defficient please. I am aching to hear your thoughts.  
  • That's cool.
  • Azure is great stuff!
  • They should improve it by themselves and compete with other web browsers by making it fast and feature full although Great to hear that.
  • It is already fast, but yep, not feature full.
  • I stopped using IE on my pc when it wouldn't properly open web pages with animations and also many bugs when playing videos. I turned to Firefox and everything was magically fixed. Then I moved to chrome because of its great speed. I don't think anyone will go back to IE, MS was too slow with its explorer.
  • Not real handy for doing local development with Node or something though...
  • IE might be fast but its buggy, pages crashes all the time and youtube and Facebook do not have all the features that you get on other browsers... I like to use it to support Microsoft or whatever but they need to be better to compete
  • Wow!
    That was unexpected move
  • Internet explorer should ve there android let it grab market share.
  • Sounds good to me.  FWIW, I rarely have issues with IE11.  Yet, Safari crashes frequently when reading articles on Windows Central.
  • F....k you MS, develop all your own apps for others while google don't allow you to have even YouTube. am disturbed, why??????????
  • No, you are wrong, sorry, this tool can help adoption of IE and development for it The only real mistake of MS is the development of office for other platforms
  • I'm not sure if I understand what your problem is... but I'm guessing it has to do with Microsoft providing OPTIONS to all users.  This article specifically pertains to developers.  And this is a good thing.  With respect to Microsoft software and accessories on other platforms, not only are they providing choice for others, they are providing choice for those that like Microsoft but aren't sold entirely on their vertical.  Choice is good people.  One can argue about the companies focus, but the strategy is sound and if anyone is in a position to do this is it Microsoft.  Their core business is software. 
  • now it will be cloud under satya nadella
  • I don't think many Android users will be using IE
  • lol agree ... I use FF it comes with ad block plus plugin :) 
  • this is for developers, not for day to day use silly.
  • Yes good move
  • Folks, you don't even have to read further than the first sentence of the article to see that this isn't for USERS of other platforms. It's for DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS so they can test their apps on the latest preview version of IE to prepare their apps in advance. Stop with the "users of xyz platform will never use this" comments. This is a good thing. The more options for devs, the better.
  • Ya no one will use ie.
  • this is for web developers who have to accept the fact IE cannot be ignored even if they don't personally use it.
  • I haven't laughed in a long time... IE on Macs.
  • well if you develop for the web on a mac, IE is very much something you cannot afford to ignore buddy, or you'll be laughing your way out of a job :)
  • I always laugh (and cry inside) when Mac developers try to tell me that Mac is the best OS to develop for the web in. And then their sites don't work properly on the world's most popular OS and browser.
  • What about local/private development? Will it support proxy through a tunnel to get back to your local dev machine?
  • Per their own site, this is not supported. The site needs to be publicly available.
  • Nothing inspires developers to ignore MS platforms like when they ignore them themselves:  
    We know that developers on Windows 7 want a way to test the latest builds of IE, so we built RemoteIE to bring a single, low-friction solution to both downlevel Windows as well as other platforms like Mac OS X, iOS and Android.
    apparently windows8 isn't a platform (even if net applications says it is bigger than OSX) and windows phone...pff yeah, they would NEVER want to try IE10... I realize some of you may say that, oh, just VM it. but still, this sends a message. 
  • unless there is a hidden WP app ou're out of luck. The app installs on RT BUT it's a desktop app so well, take it for what it is. Overall I suppose asking for a store app was too much and maybe not enough.
  • Yeah, the desktop version of Remote Desktop seems to have been added to RT in 8.1. At least I never noticed it I'm 8.0. It's handy in cases like this because it supports RemoteApp which the Store version doesn't.
  • SatyAZURE is his name from now on. I just had it changed legally. 
  • anybody trying this on windows RT :) just for the fun of it because I'm going to bet this desktop app will not install on MS onwn platforms.
  • RT has the desktop version of Remote Desktop already.
  • When ie adds addons, possibly themes, and is alot faster. Then I would use it daily and not just to install something else like chrome
  • is anyone know how to enable internet explorer 11 metro style  in windows 10 i only have desktop version help me i need it alot thanks
  • How about actually releasing IE for other platforms? IE mobile has proved itself, it will beat the shit out of safari and chrome Sent via Windows Central app