No IE Support = No MobileMe at Work

[Stangs55]

Just though you guys should know...try to sign in from ie and you get a fat warning message.

Of course, this is CLASSIC Apple at work here. However, this being an Apple forum, I doubt many people lack the blinders to see it. But this is basically JUST like the iTunes debacle when Vista was first released and they would support the OS for several months. And then when the iPhone1 was released and they wouldn't support Vista x64 for months. And now when MobileMe (aka: iFail) they say they don't support microsoft's browser.

All of this is done to create the air of unhappiness and suspicion with Microsoft. People think, "Well Vista is such a POS, Apple can't even get their software to work properly on it! Woe is Apple!" Wrong.

So will MobileMe work with ie at work? Well...probably...but putting a big warning sign everytime you start up the largest and most widely used browser in the world sure is one way to make your competitor look bad--if you're 4 years old that is.

They attack Microsft with their childish commercials and their software...but in the end, it's the end users that suffer.

/rant

[clevin]

i though it supports IE7?

[gehrbox]

Just though you guys should know...try to sign in from ie and you get a fat warning message

Works fine in Firefox and Safari for Windows. Why blame Apple for an Microsoft IE problem?

[clevin]

Works fine in Firefox and Safari for Windows. Why blame Apple for an Microsoft IE problem?

thats false, if yahoo mail can do IE6, apple should be able to too.

I know apple is technologically weak, but there is no point risking 300million potentials.

[Stangs55]

i though it supports IE7?

Error message in both ie6 and ie7.

[clevin]

Error message in both ie6 and ie7.

well, i would think its bug, my impression is this crap is officially support IE7.

http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1072-apples-mobileme-drops-support-for-ie-6

of course, if apple isn't capable of doing it, or want to make a statement of some sort......

[snakedoctor]

Wow the genius being posted here is good stuff.

First off there is a warning, but guess what most of its works. Second you should count your self lucky you can get to ANY webmail from work, most US corporations block it for many reasons theses days.

For your information, Zune software did not work on Vista 64 for the first year, and MS makes Zune and Vista. I guess Apple was more compatible with iTunes than MS was with Zune.

IE6 and IE7 have problems with web sites that use TRUE standards, but support the MS way of the web coding with out a problem. Yes Yahoo and others code for IE6/7 because so many people have it.

That said IE8 will finally follow true web standards and MS has already said that IE8 will have problems with many non-standard websites but they have a fall back mode (IE7) they have created so IE8 can switch back to it, at a performance hit.

So to the OP, IE7 does work for the most part with me.com, IE is now at 73% market share so IE7 compatibility is less important, until MobileME and its new Ajax components, 98% of .Mac users were Mac owners, your lucky you even get webmail of any kind at work, and MS is less compliant on Vista with its own media software than Apple was with Vista, yet iTunes is 100% compliant with OSX.

[snakedoctor]

well, i would think its bug, my impression is this crap is officially support IE7.

http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1072-apples-mobileme-drops-support-for-ie-6

of course, if apple isn't capable of doing it, or want to make a statement of some sort......

Yep it syncs IE bookmarks or favorites or whatever IE users call it.

I have used IE7 to login to me.com and it worked for reading, composing, sending, deleting, viewing my contacts, calendar. I could not find what did not work.

Perhaps dragging and dropping of messages into folders does not work, I did not try that.

[clevin]

IE6 and IE7 have problems with web sites that use TRUE standards, but support the MS way of the web coding with out a problem. Yes Yahoo and others code for IE6/7 because so many people have it.

That said IE8 will finally follow true web standards

So to the OP, IE7 does work for the most part with me.com, IE is now at 73% market share so IE7 compatibility is less important, until MobileME and its new Ajax components

its simply a business decision, there is really no point of portraying this has anything to do with standard. If it can support IE7 (at least officially), why not IE6, where is the standard difference that are so huge apple can't remedy? IE6 has 36% market, its unreasonable to do so.

also, don't expect too much improvement on standard side with IE8. It will be much better, not not in javascript.

73% marketshare is less important? and 5% is very important?......

[ScottFitz]

It works both ways. I'd KILL for a stable IE7 for my Mac. I need it at work. I do have a workaround, or could go VM, but it'd be nice to have a native version.

[eyephone]

I got the message too in IE7, but all works smoothly, but as of today I feel that me.com is finally running faster in Safari for windows.

If your work is running IE6, it is probably a server deployed browser, and chances are they have an exchange server. If they do, drop the mobileme for the exchange support that has been put into the new 2.0 software?

[snakedoctor]

its simply a business decision, there is really no point of portraying this has anything to do with standard. If it can support IE7 (at least officially), why not IE6, where is the standard difference that are so huge apple can't remedy? IE6 has 36% market, its unreasonable to do so.

also, don't expect too much improvement on standard side with IE8. It will be much better, not not in javascript.

73% marketshare is less important? and 5% is very important?......

.Mac was 98%+ Mac users. 100% of Mac users dont use IE.

That is not going to change overnight. The target here is iPhone users that are not Mac users, that might want to use .Mac. We are talking a small percentage of people.

To be honest I see it aimed as making more switchers or to accommodate Mac users when they are "forced" to use Windows/PC. MobileMe with Outlook works, buts its not as elegant as Mail/Address/iCal.

My wife is a perfect example. She has used Outlook 2007 with her pop account, and it works well. Well I added her shortly before MobileMe rolled out and IMAP folders along with PST folders in Outlook looks ugly. You cant get rid of the "inbox" in the PST you must create, and use for its Calendar, and contacts. So you have an Inbox, sent items, deleted items, outbox, drafts and stuff you dont need, as you use those folders on the MobileMe IMAP server. You cant get rid of them, and its confusing for her, and its a down right ugly mess.

She has been leaning towards a Mac, MobileMe and her iTouch that she loves are pushing her to become a switcher.

[clevin]

.Mac was 98%+ Mac users. 100% of Mac users dont use IE.

The target here is iPhone users that are not Mac users, that might want to use .Mac. We are talking a small percentage of people.

To be honest I see it aimed as making more switchers or to accommodate Mac users when they are "forced" to use Windows/PC.

That might well be the case. But apple should be careful of its PR so it doesn't get too many people upset after they pay.

[gehrbox]

thats false, if yahoo mail can do IE6, apple should be able to too.

I know apple is technologically weak, but there is no point risking 300million potentials.

If MS does not support the Web2.0 standard that Apple chose to follow, then it's not Apples fault.

Apple technologically weak? Please give a few details that would justify that statement.

[clevin]

If MS does not support the Web2.0 standard that Apple chose to follow, then it's not Apples fault.

Apple technologically weak? Please give a few details that would justify that statement.

you, my friend, need to read some wikis.

Although M$ is lousy at CSS and other techs. AJAX is not one of them, IE was the first to do it.

Like I said. there is no technical difficulties, support IE7 but not IE6 is a business decision, or you can choose to tell me whats the standard related difference between IE6 and IE7 that apple can't overcome.

PS. there is no such thing as web 2.0 standard. again, read more related wikis will help you learn more about these stuff.

[gehrbox]

you, my friend, need to read some wikis.

Although M$ is lousy at CSS and other techs. AJAX is not one of them, IE was the first to do it.

Like I said. there is no technical difficulties, support IE7 but not IE6 is a business decision, or you can choose to tell me whats the standard related difference between IE6 and IE7 that apple can't overcome.

PS. there is no such thing as web 2.0 standard. again, read more related wikis will help you learn more about these stuff.

Thanks for making me your friend. The message that pops up from IE 7 is

"Internet Explorer 7 has known compatibility issues with modern web standards which affect Web 2.0 applications such as MobileMe"

If you don't want to call it a standard (ie an environment that supports Web 2.0 apps) and live & die by Wikipedia more power to you. Apple appears to think it is a standard on which Web 2.0 applications are built. If you want to challenge Apples definitions, please feel free to send an email to sjobs@apple.com.

[Ashims]

As a Web 2.0 developer I'd say that the ie stuff is all probably kneejerk reactions to all the problems they've been having. Lets be honest, me.com wasn't ready to go live.

Now you can achieve pretty much anything you need to on IE if you have the time-- But with the problems they've been having...

To give you an idea, I allow 200% of the time it takes to develop an initial standards compliant site frontend (design & client scripting)-- to tweak it for working in the IE's. Its almost not worth developing for, even with the massive install base. This is why we web developers tend to have problems with the big M$.

So in the context of the MobMe debacle, its probably them trying to make it look like they were more ready then they actually were, after having their software fall over at the last minute. Hopefully all this junk will be fixed in the next few weeks. Still very disappointing.

Nothing any more yelling will do tho-- The poor guys are almost certainly not sleeping at the moment. Good luck to em I say. Lols.

Cheers.
Ash.

Also... to those who say this is a business decision-- I'd have to disagree. That's not to say I dont think apple do this-- they do it all the time. I just don't see them getting any significant benefit from having their applications not working on a platform they've advertised as supporting. There are far better explanations for the lack of support, for example, mine above. :).

[Stangs55]

Yup...let me confirm...no MMe at work:

Error message:
"We recommend the following browsers.
To make use of rich web applications in MobileMe, we recommend one of the following supported browsers:
Safari 3 or later (Mac / PC)
Firefox 2 or later (Mac / PC)
Update your browser now to access your email, calendar, contacts, and more at me.com
Questions? Go to MobileMe Support "

[Cudadown]

That one little requirement just made my .mac/mobileme account worthless. I've only been paying the 99.00 a year for the ability to access iDisk and Mail account from work. Can't change the work computer so I am scewed. Nice while it lasted I guess.

[Antares]

I don't care about full MobileMe access at work. I just want to me able to access my MobileMe e-mail at work. .Mac had a classic version that ran on pretty much any browser which was a selectable option in addition to the "full" version. E-mail is a very basic thing that doesn't require Web 2.0 and heavy JavaScript/Java. Apple should provide a simple access to your webmail in addition to the glitzy MobileMe interface. I want to be able to check my e-mail on my non-iPhone phone and my work PC with IE 6.

This shouldn't be an issue for Apple. They wouldn't even have to do any additional coding or modifications as the site and structure for the classic interface has already been created. All they would really have to do is change the links.

As it stands, MobileMe is less "mobile" than .Mac...for me at least.

P.S. believe me, I would put Safari or Firefox (or even update IE) on my work PC if I was allowed. But that goes against company policy (installing outside software) and I could get in trouble. Hell, I'd even request a Mac if I could.

[clevin]

"Internet Explorer 7 has known compatibility issues with modern web standards which affect Web 2.0 applications such as MobileMe"
.

lol, I do trust wiki, much more than I trust whatever information apple products throw at me.

AJAX, Web 2.0, JS2, google can do IE, yahoo can do IE, everybody can do IE, and apple can't? Get a reason, but not the fake one.

[michaelsaxon]

I'm not able to upgrade to IE7 at work as well because it isn't supported. Boo!

[gehrbox]

lol, I do trust wiki, much more than I trust whatever information apple products throw at me.

AJAX, Web 2.0, JS2, google can do IE, yahoo can do IE, everybody can do IE, and apple can't? Get a reason, but not the fake one.

Why should they?

[ewiley28]

Really? No one's come up with a hack or work-around? All I want is to get one vcard out of contacts. I'm trying to decide if I want to just take screenshots of it with my phone or bother to go home so I can access it.

The real solution is to get portable firefox running on a thumbdrive, but I got burned when one died as a result of the frequent rewrites, so I need to work out a thumbdrive backup system first.

[danny_w]

Works fine in Firefox and Safari for Windows. Why blame Apple for an Microsoft IE problem?
But it doesn't work in Firefox for Linux, or in IE6 and with only limited support in IE7. The Linux community alone is an ever-growing number of users that also cannot access the MobileMe website. So Apple wants to sell MobileMe to iPhone users, most of which don't have Macs, but they have locked out all Linux users, and many Windows users who cannot upgrade or change their browser due to company policy. Way to go, Apple! How could they miss something so huge? This is not a Microsoft problem, it is an Apple problem, pure and simple. If they want to sell to certain markets, they have to support those markets; others won't do it for them.

[danny_w]

Really? No one's come up with a hack or work-around? All I want is to get one vcard out of contacts. I'm trying to decide if I want to just take screenshots of it with my phone or bother to go home so I can access it.

The real solution is to get portable firefox running on a thumbdrive, but I got burned when one died as a result of the frequent rewrites, so I need to work out a thumbdrive backup system first.
This is not a solution for all of those people with locked-down work computers, many of which aren't allowed to use a USB device of any kind.

[HLdan]

Interesting, you say most iPhone users don't have Macs but then you are annoyed that Apple doesn't support Firefox for Linux? Defend it all you want but there are hardly any Linux users with Linux as their primary OS. You don't even see a Linux PC at Frys, Best Buy or Circuit City. It's an open source alternative that only a few Windows Zealots use. When you go into most people's homes they have a computer with either the Mac OS or Windows.

It doesn't make good business sense to support a platform with very limited users especially since Linux is more a platform to tinker with. Speak to Adobe and ask them why they don't have Photoshop for Linux? Ask Microsoft why they don't make Office for Linux?

[danny_w]

Interesting, you say most iPhone users don't have Macs but then you are annoyed that Apple doesn't support Firefox for Linux? Defend it all you want but there are hardly any Linux users with Linux as their primary OS. You don't even see a Linux PC at Frys, Best Buy or Circuit City. It's an open source alternative that only a few Windows Zealots use. When you go into most people's homes they have a computer with either the Mac OS or Windows.

It doesn't make good business sense to support a platform with very limited users especially since Linux is more a platform to tinker with. Speak to Adobe and ask them why they don't have Photoshop for Linux? Ask Microsoft why they don't make Office for Linux?
Excuse me? The Apple boards are flooded with people who use Linux at work and can't view their email. Our company has customers who use Linux almost completely within their companies. I am not talking home users here.

[HLdan]

Excuse me? The Apple boards are flooded with people who use Linux at work and can't view their email. Our company has customers who use Linux almost completely within their companies. I am not talking home users here.

Mobileme is a service for the home user that handles their business on the go where Exchange is not an option for them. Companies use Exchange and Mobileme is Exchange for the rest of us. A forum of several users is less than .5% of the market that uses computers and Linux being a fine platform is not very widely used. For the record there a lot of business users that hang at coffee shops doing their work. Take a peek at someone's PC screen the next time and see what system is being used, most likely it's not Linux. I'm not sticking up for Apple for not supporting Firefox for Linux, I'm explaining to you that it's not worth their time and money to support an open source platform that's not part of the majority. Currently only Windows and the Mac OS are the major players.

Linux developers have to step up to the plate to promote the use of Linux more in order to get the major players to support it. The same goes for the lack of games on Mac, Apple is not hardly stepping up to the plate to promote Mac gaming which is why game developers don't deal with the Mac much.

[Daveoc64]

Interesting, you say most iPhone users don't have Macs but then you are annoyed that Apple doesn't support Firefox for Linux? Defend it all you want but there are hardly any Linux users with Linux as their primary OS. You don't even see a Linux PC at Frys, Best Buy or Circuit City. It's an open source alternative that only a few Windows Zealots use. When you go into most people's homes they have a computer with either the Mac OS or Windows.

It doesn't make good business sense to support a platform with very limited users especially since Linux is more a platform to tinker with. Speak to Adobe and ask them why they don't have Photoshop for Linux? Ask Microsoft why they don't make Office for Linux?

I'm very confused.

"Windows Zealots" as you put them, are HIGHLY unlikely to have anything to do with Linux.

Besides, the point here is that Apple's code actively seeks out Linux users (and IE6 users) and then blocks access despite the functionality of the service working without any issue if you spoof your browser string.

There's a difference between "unsupported" and "blocked". Under "unsupported", Apple would basically say: "Use whatever browser you want to, but we can't help you if Firefox on Ubuntu doesn't work". With blocked, you don't even get that chance.

The other issue is that MobileMe incorrectly informs users that they can continue anyway when using a Linux browser. Clicking the "Continue" button does nothing.

MobileMe claims that its lack of IE6 support is due to poor web standards compliance, but the reality is that MobileMe isn't as standards compliant as Apple would make out. It uses Flash for a single button!

[JR2008]

I can't claim to understand any of the tecchie stuff above, but I've had to cancel my MobileMe account becuase it does not work with IE6. My work PC only uses IE6 and I can't install any other browser. Also when you're traveling and just want to check your email on the internet, you can't do this with MobileMe if the computer uses IE6.

[FFW]

I can't claim to understand any of the tecchie stuff above, but I've had to cancel my MobileMe account becuase it does not work with IE6. My work PC only uses IE6 and I can't install any other browser. Also when you're traveling and just want to check your email on the internet, you can't do this with MobileMe if the computer uses IE6.

I echo this completely. The whole idea of MobileMe is to be able to access your email anywhere. Unless its your own hardware you can't control what browser you have access to and so no IE6 support in some form is a mistake by Apple if you ask me. If I can access my MobileMe email from a third party service like mail2web (http://mail2web.com/) then why the hell can't Apple provide a "basic" interface for it? This is an "upgrade" that I didn't want as a .Mac user, pure and simple.

[Daveoc64]

I echo this completely. The whole idea of MobileMe is to be able to access your email anywhere. Unless its your own hardware you can't control what browser you have access to and so no IE6 support in some form is a mistake by Apple if you ask me. If I can access my MobileMe email from a third party service like mail2web (http://mail2web.com/) then why the hell can't Apple provide a "basic" interface for it? This is an "upgrade" that I didn't want as a .Mac user, pure and simple.
Exactly.

It's ironic that a service designed to let you get a LOT of data on "any" computer actually only works on a small minority of computers.