diff --git a/spec/app/window-spec.coffee b/spec/app/window-spec.coffee
index 989face89..a8ff9998b 100644
--- a/spec/app/window-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/app/window-spec.coffee
@@ -232,22 +232,22 @@ describe "Window", ->
 
   describe "when a link is clicked", ->
     it "opens the http/https links in an external application", ->
-      ChildProcess = require 'child_process'
-      spyOn(ChildProcess, 'spawn')
+      shell = require 'shell'
+      spyOn(shell, 'openExternal')
 
       $("<a href='http://github.com'>the website</a>").appendTo(document.body).click().remove()
-      expect(ChildProcess.spawn).toHaveBeenCalled()
-      expect(ChildProcess.spawn.argsForCall[0][1][0]).toBe "http://github.com"
+      expect(shell.openExternal).toHaveBeenCalled()
+      expect(shell.openExternal.argsForCall[0]).toBe "http://github.com"
 
-      ChildProcess.spawn.reset()
+      shell.openExternal.reset()
       $("<a href='https://github.com'>the website</a>").appendTo(document.body).click().remove()
-      expect(ChildProcess.spawn).toHaveBeenCalled()
-      expect(ChildProcess.spawn.argsForCall[0][1][0]).toBe "https://github.com"
+      expect(shell.openExternal).toHaveBeenCalled()
+      expect(shell.openExternal.argsForCall[0]).toBe "https://github.com"
 
-      ChildProcess.spawn.reset()
+      shell.openExternal.reset()
       $("<a href=''>the website</a>").appendTo(document.body).click().remove()
-      expect(ChildProcess.spawn).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+      expect(shell.openExternal).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
 
-      ChildProcess.spawn.reset()
+      shell.openExternal.reset()
       $("<a href='#scroll-me'>link</a>").appendTo(document.body).click().remove()
-      expect(ChildProcess.spawn).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+      expect(shell.openExternal).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
diff --git a/src/app/window.coffee b/src/app/window.coffee
index af93a0478..8d9b68f09 100644
--- a/src/app/window.coffee
+++ b/src/app/window.coffee
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ window.handleEvents = ->
     return if location[0] is '#'
 
     if location.indexOf('https://') is 0 or location.indexOf('http://') is 0
-      require('child_process').spawn('open', [location])
+      require('shell').openExternal(location)
     false
 
 window.handleDragDrop = ->
diff --git a/src/packages/link/lib/link.coffee b/src/packages/link/lib/link.coffee
index 56c1ee05b..542fad8da 100644
--- a/src/packages/link/lib/link.coffee
+++ b/src/packages/link/lib/link.coffee
@@ -12,5 +12,4 @@ module.exports =
         @selector = new TextMateScopeSelector('markup.underline.link')
 
       if @selector.matches(token.scopes)
-        ChildProcess = require 'child_process'
-        ChildProcess.spawn 'open', [token.value]
+        require('shell').openExternal token.value
diff --git a/src/packages/link/spec/link-spec.coffee b/src/packages/link/spec/link-spec.coffee
index 26b0a4cb6..2e185c19d 100644
--- a/src/packages/link/spec/link-spec.coffee
+++ b/src/packages/link/spec/link-spec.coffee
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 RootView = require 'root-view'
 Editor = require 'editor'
-ChildProcess = require 'child_process'
+shell = require 'shell'
 
 describe "link package", ->
   [editor] = []
@@ -17,12 +17,12 @@ describe "link package", ->
 
   describe "when the cursor is on a link", ->
     it "opens the link using the 'open' command", ->
-      spyOn(ChildProcess, 'spawn')
+      spyOn(shell, 'openExternal')
       editor.trigger('link:open')
-      expect(ChildProcess.spawn).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+      expect(shell.openExternal).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
 
       editor.setCursorBufferPosition([0,5])
       editor.trigger('link:open')
 
-      expect(ChildProcess.spawn).toHaveBeenCalled()
-      expect(ChildProcess.spawn.argsForCall[0][1][0]).toBe "http://github.com"
+      expect(shell.openExternal).toHaveBeenCalled()
+      expect(shell.openExternal.argsForCall[0]).toBe "http://github.com"