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Microsoft Kills Off Mac IE, Blames Safari

Posted by jamie on from the convenient-excuse-wanders-by dept.

aliebrah writes "CNet reports that Microsoft will not release any more major upgrades for Internet Explorer on MacOS. They cite competition from Safari as the reason for this decision, and say that Safari is a better browser for Macintosh systems. Ironically, they also say that they can't compete with Apple, because Apple has better access to the underlying operating system." Yeah, that must be rough. Today's SlashDotFunQuiz is to predict the order in which, impact when, and years until these other Mac products get the axe: Media Player, MSN Messenger, Office, Outlook, and Virtual PC.

18 of 1,128 comments (clear)

  1. Apple? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Are they still around?

  2. If only by Locky · · Score: -1, Troll

    Where would the IT market be if MS had always had this attitude?

  3. screw you guys.... by ArsonPanda · · Score: -1, Troll

    "Wha? competition?!? no fair. I don't like you
    guys anymore, I'm taking my ball and going home."
    -Billy

    --

    --I don't want the world, I just want your half.
  4. Hahaha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Hahaha... die ya sons-of-bitches!!!

  5. Re:Sorry, but this doesn't make sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    ... aside from being slightly sluggish in early versions ...

    Arguably due to the slow-ass hardware and operating system Macs use.

  6. Re:Completion? by Tekka · · Score: 0, Troll

    No I would say they are just sticking the finger up at Apple, its rather funny if you think about it.

  7. Re:Shenanigans again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Well great Faggy McFucknuts. Have fun with the multitudes of bugs and being unable to access 90% of the internet because it's designed with IE in mind.
    Can't get to a site? Oh, you're using a Mac. Mac doesn't have IE anymore. Dumb user decides they wasted their money on a machine they can't effectively upgrade and will have to buy brand new in a year so they decide to buy a PC.

  8. Re:Huh? BULL -LONE -EE by alienw · · Score: 1, Troll

    Having the Darwin core open-sourced does NOT give, say, Linux or Microsoft any competitive advantage. However, open-sourcing, say, Quartz would actually be useful for many other projects, which is why Apple doesn't do it. That was pretty much my point.

    Unfortunately, Apple's platform is extremely difficult to develop for if you are a PC guy. You need to not only have an expensive Mac box, but also learn Mac-specific stuff like Objective C in addition to the APIs. If you want to sell your program, you will have to use Macs for a year or two until you start to wrap your brain around how users expect the system to work. Sure, you might capture a segment of the market if you have a really good program, but the costs of development are unlikely to get recovered. Besides, the Mac software market is already pretty crowded, and there are too many heavyweights like Apple themselves.

  9. The best part is the really gave in to Konqueror by pcwhalen · · Score: -1, Troll

    Safari is just the GPL'ed browser itself. How can it say it doesn't have access to the Darwin BSD underpinnings of OSX? It's freeking open source.

    Oh, and Safari freezes my g4 powerbook all the time. I use Opera now. :>

    --
    Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain with all your metadata.
  10. Re:Huh? BULL -LONE -EE by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 0, Troll

    Market share or not, Apple people BUY software!

    Good point. Apple people are willing to pay more for a less useful product. They should start an advertising campaign around that.

  11. Goatsemon Music Group by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    its called the Goatsemon music group

    Welcome to the homepage of Goatsemon. Goatsemon is a electronic music group determined to bring you the finest sounds inspired by goatse.cx. Our music, an audio representation of the true gaping anus is the most enjoyable listening ever. Enjoy!

    no nasty pics, I promise, only fun MP3's

    http://nero-online.org/goatsemon/

  12. Re:Huh? BULL -LONE -EE by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 0, Troll

    Define "less useful".

    Having fewer uses. For instance, having much less software available for it. Having much less hardware available for it.

  13. Who wants the Middle East market, anyway? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    The result is total [Microsoft] market domination in the Middle East...

    Is that a bad thing? Do you really want those people caught up in the Mac vs. Windows/Windows vs. Mac fervor?

    /me imagines suicide bombers at MacWorld Expo and COMDEX.

    Yeah. That's just what the tech industry needs.

  14. MODs ON CRACK ALERT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    This post is not a troll!! it's an important point to be made in the discussion. We have abusive pro-M$ moderators running amok! I wonder if M$ pays people to read slashdot and karma-whore for points to burn on M$ stories.

  15. Re:The great irony ... by brett720 · · Score: 0, Troll
    Talk about some horrible comparisons! Following your logic, you would make it sound like Microsoft is killing IE and somehow moving Safari to the PC platform! Totally rediculous statements.

    As far as IE 5.2 ported to OS X, I can't comment on that, as I dont see a reason nowdays to use a Mac over PC anymore..Mac is almost a dead bird.

    If you want to talk about video formats...There are other players/formats like DivX blows away Quicktime hands down, so thats a moot point and has nothing to do with MS not developing on a closed platform that makes little business sense.

    How can IE be eclipsed by Mozilla and Safari when IE has like 95% share..Mozilla is like 3% and all the others combined like Safari are less than 1%. That is the funniest part of the whole message...and 100% without fact or basis.

    I dont blame Microsoft one bit for the decision not to develop a browser for the company that has traditionally released the least amount of info about thier OS/ROMS/etc. I dont see any business sense any more because Mac is becoming such a small niche of the computer world.

    I imagine I will get modded down by one of the Mac moderators because they think its opinion flame-bait rather than justified facts(which it is)..but just needed to clear up the silliness that was going on in that earlier post.

  16. WOW zealots are blind by Java+Geeeek · · Score: 0, Troll
    They sue every company that makes a PC the same color or size as a Mac Uh, it's called "trade dress," and they were certainly right to do it for some of those blatant iMac ripoffs. Same with the Aqua skins for Windows-- because there are plenty of people in this country who'd be dumb enough to think that a Windows machine with that skin was actually running OS X, and would develop a negative opinion of OS X as a result. If you don't think people in this country are sufficiently dumb for that to happen, I've got two words for you: WWE. NASCAR.
    Apple.com is where I would look for the dumbest people. Letâ(TM)s pay twice as much for weaker hardware just because the icon moves when you mouse over it. Thatâ(TM)s all they offer. Granted their interface looks great, but too bad there isnâ(TM)t any software to run on it.
    And most atrocious is their taking of open source software in the form of using Darwin for the under lying Mac OS along with other system tools and don't give back to the open source community by releasing the Aqua interface to the open source world. Seems like if you're going to take, you should also give back. Uh, Aqua is one of the major things that makes a Mac a Mac. Apple was in a five year long lawsuit over the look and feel of their OS, and now you think they're just gonna give it to the Linux herd? Puhleeze! Furthermore, if you want examples of Apple "giving back," look at Safari.
    Kind of makes my point. They had no problem taking all the system functionality from the open source world, all they things they would have to spend big piles of money on developing if it werenâ(TM)t for open source so in return they retain control of the only object of value they own. Where is the X86 version of Safari?
    just imagine what they could do if they released Mac OS to the x86 world? Uh, they'd go out of business in about six months to a year, because you cheap fucks wouldn't buy Apple hardware if you could avoid it. Get this fact through your thick fucking skull, moron: Apple is a HARDWARE company. Their software is what sells their hardware. Their hardware sales are what fund their software R&D. You remove half of that equation and Apple ceases to exist.
    The Aqua interface makes a Mac a Mac according to you, yet they are a hardware company? Wouldnâ(TM)t great hardware make a Mac a Mac if it were a hardware company? They do have cool looking cases to pull more form over function types into their fold, but if you consider cases hardware, then youâ(TM)re an ido er, um typical Mac user. They use Aqua to force people to buy their overly expensive hardware because they donâ(TM)t other businesses competing with them. Sounds like another big company based in Redmond.
    BTW, please tell us if you think Apple hardware is still crap after June 23, when they release the 970-based machines.
    Next to the 64 bit x86 machines it will be. I guess that great hardware is why so much of the desktop publishing industry in moving to the PC platform.
  17. Re:Apple has better access to the underlying OS? by brett720 · · Score: 0, Troll
    I thought Safari was open source. Am I mistaken?

    Just because a piece of software is supposedly "open source", does not mean that the OS it was built upon is open. Your logic would point to Apple OS X being open source.....So yes, you are mistaken.

  18. Re:hey I feel for MS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    that is one of the fucking stupidest things i have EVER read on slashdot, nay, the whole Internet. please go play in traffic now.