Installing IE For Linux in Xubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

Microsoft Internet Explorer running in Xubuntu Linux 7.10. See below for a summary of the installation how-to, with minor modifications

Problem: I hate MS Internet Explorer and only use it at work or when I need to check how my website’s looking in IE. So I would like to install IE6 in Xubuntu Linux, with the help of IES4Linux. While the instructions included with IES4Linux are very thorough, gedit is no longer a default editor in Xubuntu 7.10, so certain adjustments must be made, as follows:

That’s it: problem solved. After a minute or so from the last command, you’ll be returned to your home directory in Terminal with a confirmation that the installation is complete. Close Terminal and open IE with one of the icons now residing on your Desktop. If for any reason the icons aren’t there (did you forget to return to your home directory in Step 6?), open IE with the commands noted near the end of the install script.

One final note: If you’re happy with the IE6 setup in your Xubuntu, then you may want to try the following:

Check out the IEs4linux IE7 beta
If you’ve got a Mac, try this
For goodness sake, drop some cash into Mr. Lopes’ tip jar — good geekery is worth it

Since this is, after all, a political blog, here’s a parting word for those of the corporate robber baron persuasion. Sergio Lopes, the geek who made this possible, did all this in his spare time; that is, it’s not his job. Clearly, where there is talent and will, there is a way. So why don’t we have Linux versions of IE and Media Player from M$, and Safari, Quicktime, and iTunes from Apple? It’s not that there’s no user base: Dell and Lenovo think there’s enough of a market for Linux to build machines around it. I hear Walmart can’t even keep enough of their gOS machines on the shelves to satisfy the demand. They don’t care that they’re not in a green bed with Apple or M$, because they’re making real money with Linux. What about you guys, the Kings of the commercial OS? Could you be feeling threatened to the point where you’ll continue worshipping the Proprietary God at the altar of Intellectual Property? Don’t you realize how retro that is, how positively antediluvian? You guys like to think of yourselves as cutting-edge revolutionaries, with your Vistas and your iPhones. That may all be true when it comes to inciting desire and making people spend money they don’t have on gear and software that they may not need. But when it comes to what matters — doing business to support the planet and add promise to the unfolding future — I think you’re just sadly obsolescent.