Microsoft Officially Drops Internet Explorer For Mac, Recommends Safari
Published December 19, 2005
Microsoft stated two years ago that support for Internet Explorer for Mac would end in 2005. It has finally been two years. Two very long and painful years if you ask me.
In a note posted to Microsoft's Mactopia Web site, "Microsoft will end support for Internet Explorer for Mac on December 31st, 2005, and will provide no further security or performance updates." This is already the case, but only unofficially. They will also pull downloads of IE for Mac as of January 31st, 2006.
Microsoft also suggests to use "more recent web browsing technologies such as Apple's Safari." Yes folks, that is Microsoft telling their (still loyal) IE for Mac users to switch to Apple's more recent Safari.
This is great news, although a bit too late. As of 2003, IE for Mac has been a lame duck. And seeing as Safari has been the default browser since Mac OS X v10.3, I think IE for Mac users should maybe give Safari a spin. By now Safari is past its "infant" stage. It has become a very robust and capable browser. If you are feeling even more adventurous I might suggest Firefox as well.
Both Safari and Firefox have something that IE for Mac has not had. That is standards compliance. This is why I say it has been a painful two years since Microsoft first announced it would be giving IE for Mac the axe. Web pages do not render properly in IE for Mac because that program does not adhere to the standards put forth by the World Wide Web Consortium.
Now that does not mean that IE for Windows, Safari, or Firefox are 100% compliant, but they will give you a truer representation of what the designer/developer intended you to see.
Having to write code for one specific browser (IE for Mac) is a royal pain. And now I can officially stop doing that too.
Oddly enough, at the end of that post on Mactopia, it says "Find out how Internet Explorer 5 for Mac can show you the Internet in new, exciting ways."
Ken Edwards is the Gaming Editor at Blogcritics, and calls Breaking Windows home. Ken works part time for Student Publications at BGSU as the Webmaster and System Administrator. He is also a freelance web developer.
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- Microsoft Officially Drops Internet Explorer For Mac, Recommends Safari
- Published: December 19, 2005
- Type: News
- Section: Sci/Tech
- Filed Under: Sci/Tech: Software, Sci/Tech: Internet
- Writer: Ken Edwards
- Ken Edwards's BC Writer page
- Ken Edwards's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
As sad as it sounds, I tell people on a weekly basis to stop using IE for Mac. I am constantly pushing Safari and Firefox as if they were drugs.
Oddly enough, at the end of that post on Mactopia, it says "Find out how Internet Explorer 5 for Mac can show you the Internet in new, exciting ways."
grrrrrr.
If only Safari worked well with AP Photorerun, then I could tell my customers to use it instead.
Still, 50-year-old small-town editors are resistant to change.
That is very true (both points).
AP Photorerun does work with Safari, you just have to kick it a little bit. And most people don't want to do that. Just go to Debug [then] User Agent and switch it to Windows MSIE 6.0. But like I said, most people, especially 50-year-old small-town editors don't like doing stuff like that.
But yes, there are specific applications on the web that are only written for IE (Mac or Windows). I would assume sites such as VersionTracker will still provide a download link for IE for Mac. At least for those such instances that it is needed because of the original (old) programming.
It's about keeping it simple. Even I cringe at telling reporters to use anything related with Debug Mode.
That's too many extra steps to get the same photos. Hopefully AP gets their shit together, knowing that most newsrooms are Mac environments.
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I can't remember the last time I used IE, but I won't miss it. Viva le Mac!