Run Multiple Versions of Internet Explorer AT THE SAME TIME

Anyone who has been a web developer for any amount of time would understand how tricky it is to get web pages to render correctly on different browsers, especially when the user base has a varied installation of browsers.

Installing a new version of IE replaces the previous version, so this is not encouraging at all for the adventurous (of which developers by nature are) who like to install cutting edge versions of software to test drive.

I've just thought about this problem myself, and viola, it turns out that I am too late! The problem has already been solved.

Here's a quote from TredoSoft:

Ever wanted to test your website in various versions of Internet Explorer?

It is possible to run Internet Explorer in standalone mode without having to over-write previous versions thanks to Joe Maddalone who came up with a way of achieving that in November 2003. Basically, Internet Explorer is run by exploiting a known workaround to DLL hell - which was introduced in Windows 2000 and later versions - called DLL redirection.

Get the Multiple IE installer.

I am Famous!

Well, that is to the people who subscribe to the Embedded Muse newsletter by Jack Ganssle.

The following is an excerpt of his 151st edition of the newsletter. The "engineer" was me! I mentioned this to him during his Better Firmware Faster seminar in Singapore on the 18 and 19 October 2007.

Heh, Jack Ganssle actually learnt something from ME! :-)

On an unrelated note, an engineer recently referred me to another of
Joel's posts that I had somehow missed:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html . It's
Joel's test of a healthy software organization. Do read the article,
but he believes we should all be able to answer "yes" to these
questions:

- Do you use source control? 
- Can you make a build in one step? 
- Do you make daily builds? 
- Do you have a bug database? 
- Do you fix bugs before writing new code? 
- Do you have an up-to-date schedule? 
- Do you have a spec? 
- Do programmers have quiet working conditions? 
- Do you use the best tools money can buy? 
- Do you have testers? 
- Do new candidates write code during their interview? 
- Do you do hallway usability testing?

I'm a bit unconvinced about the last question for most embedded apps,
but these others are spot-on.