Running I.E. on a Mac (Re: Online Japanese TV Free Trial)

[Mark D. Roberts]

On May 2, 2008, at 9:40 PM, <drainer at mpinet.net> <drainer at mpinet.net>  
wrote:

> I think it's called ie4osx.

http://www.kronenberg.org/ies4osx/

Note that you must have an Intel processor for this option.

It's still an open question why the J-Net service "requires" IE and  
Windows. For the most part, browsers are supposed to be platform  
neutral. If it's just for a video codec, might be possible to find the  
right one for another OS X browser. If it's ActiveX or a plug-in or,  
shudder, some other Microsoft stuff like COM, then it's a hard  
technical requirement.

It is possible, though, that J-Net's service organization simply isn't  
trained to deal with anything other than IE, and that there is no real  
technical hurdle involved. They just couldn't help a Mac user if, for  
example, s/he called in with a service question. It is also possible  
that their web site could work with other browsers, but they enforce  
the requirement by having their server sniff the "user-agent" header  
from your browser and refusing service to anything other than IE. In  
the latter case, you could use Camino or Opera to spoof their server  
to get access.

I went to look at the J-Net site to get more details, but it  
completely blocks access from browsers inside Japan!

M