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Microsoft Ends IE for Mac

Posted by Zonk on from the who-needs-ie-anyway dept.

RandomMacUser writes "A while ago, Microsoft stopped updating IE for Mac, freezing it at version 5. But according to this Microsoft webpage, all support will cease December 31, 2005, and any official distribution with cease January 31, 2006. Also, the webpage suggests 'that Macintosh users migrate to more recent web browsing technologies such as Apple's Safari.'"

4 of 728 comments (clear)

  1. Confused by ChowRiit · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I must admit, I never really saw why anyone would WANT to use Internet Explorer on a Mac - the only reason I have in installed on my Windows machines is soley for Windows Update...

  2. Safari & Camino by TedTodorov · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Anything that Safari chokes on (for example some functions on adp.com), Camino handles fine. I can't imagine, short of total browser ignorance, why anyone would still be using IE under OS X.

  3. How is this support different than years ago? by hackstraw · · Score: 0, Redundant

    My Mac came with IE when I got it in 2004 (I guess Apple does not fear competition). It is the currently available version when I choose Internet Explorer -- About.... It shows me the version number and copyright information and that it is the currently available version. Also, there is a Support... button. That brings up a dialog box that ignores my "Click to here on a slider vs a page at a time" global setting that shows a bunch of text that is not selectable to copy and paste, but formatted in a readable format. There is a Save... button that saves all of this information to a extensionless file that when you click on it, it loads IE with that document that is not formatted which you will find exactly as follows including all formatting and the Times font at the end of this post. What kind of support is this, and how is this different than what is at least 2 years old? I've only used IE on my Mac to either debug a buggy website maybe a year to 18 months ago before compatabilites or whatever has changed that I can use Safari for everything. I've never came across software that has ever had this kind of "support".

    I've heard that Office is good for the Mac, but I've only seen it, mostly PowerPoint, but have never used it. IE for the Mac is old and pretty lame. Windows Media Player is also old, very resource intensive, and does not play so many of the WMVs out there that I only download one if I'm very curios in the video and it is not available in another format, and it may or may not work.

    Below is the "Support Information" file's contents formatted exactly as it is displaying in IE now:

    This dialog contains essential hardware and software configuration information that describes your computer system. This information is needed by Technical Support to assist you in resolving any problems you may encounter. Explorer Version: 5.2.3 (5815.1) Encryption: 128 Bit User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.23; Mac_PowerPC) Machine Type: Unknown System Version: System 10.3.9 TCP/IP Software: Open Transport - version 16.3.0 Drag Manager: 68K & PPC Version Text Encoding Converter: Version 1.9.0 System Memory: 2097,148K Bytes Loaded plug-ins: DRM Plugin.bundle (no version info): Mimetypes currently handled by DRM Plugin.bundle: application/x-drm Flash Player Enabler.plugin (8.0 r22): Mimetypes currently handled by Flash Player Enabler.plugin: application/x-shockwave-flash application/futuresplash Java Applet Plugin Enabler (no version info): Mimetypes currently handled by Java Applet Plugin Enabler: application/x-java-applet application/x-java-applet;version=1.3.1 application/x-java-applet;version=1.3 application/x-java-applet;version=1.2.2 application/x-java-applet;version=1.2.1 application/x-java-applet;version=1.2 application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.3 application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.2 application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.1 application/x-java-applet;version=1.1 application/x-java-vm NP-PPC-Dir-Shockwave (9.0): Mimetypes currently handled by NP-PPC-Dir-Shockwave: application/x-director QuickTime Plugin.plugin (7.0.3): Mimetypes currently handled by QuickTime Plugin.plugin: application/sdp application/x-sdp application/x-rtsp video/msvideo video/flc audio/mid audio/vnd.qcelp audio/vnd.qcelp audio/AMR audio/x-gsm audio/aac audio/x-aac audio/x-caf video/x-mpeg video/3gpp audio/3gpp video/3gpp2 audio/3gpp2 audio/x-m4a audio/x-m4p audio/x-m4b video/sd-video application/x-mpeg video/x-m4v audio/x-mpeg video/mp4 audio/mp4 audio/x-mpeg audio/mpeg3 audio/x-mpeg3 image/x-macpaint image/pict image/x-quicktime image/x-sgi image/x-targa image/x-tiff image/jp2 image/jpeg2000 image/jpeg2000-image image/x-jpeg2000-image image/x-bmp Other mimetypes QuickTime Plugin.plugin can handle: video/quicktime video/x-msvideo video/avi video/quicktime audio/x-wav audio/wav audio/aiff audio/x-aiff audio/basic audio/x-midi audio/midi video/mpeg audio/mpeg audio/mpeg audio/mp3 audio/x-mp3 image/x-pict image/png image/x-png image/tiff RealPlayer Plugin (no version info): Other mimetypes R

  4. I see IE all the time on Macs by pbooktebo · · Score: 1, Redundant

    I can't believe that some folks use this as their default browser, but so many do. I constantly see people click an email link and see IE pop up as their default browser (pun intended, as there are always a bunch of pop-up ads unblocked).

    I feel a bit sad for them, but it is usually more trouble to get them comfortable with a new browser. I'll make the suggestion, but some folks just don't want to deal with the change.

    I don't know it IE is still shipped with Macs, but it will be nice once it is gone and folks are using a more up to date browser.