Microsoft drops Mac IE

News.com ^ | 12/19/2005 | Colin Barker

[Panerai]

The minority of Mac users still browsing with Internet Explorer need to consider moving to another browser very quickly, as Microsoft plans to discontinue support for IE beginning Dec. 31.

The news, which came in a statement on Friday, may not have come as a complete surprise to Mac users: Microsoft announced back in June 2003 that it was ending Mac support for IE. Microsoft has not upgraded the software in three years, leaving IE 5--rather than version 6, which is available for Windows--as the most recent version available to Mac users.

While IE for Mac will continue to be available for another month after support ends, Microsoft is advising all users to move to "more recent browsing technology such as Apple's Safari." In other news:

* Wikipedia alternative as Web's PBS * A better way to count clicks? * Year in review: The PC chugs on * Newsmaker: An eco-designer eyes clean tech

The lack of support for IE is unlikely to be an issue for Apple users, most of whom already use alternatives. The only potential difficulty could lie with some sites that have been designed to work with IE only.

This affects a minority of sites, but the issue hasn't completely gone away. In June, for example, Web-testing company SciVisum said that one in 10 Web sites in the U.K. failed to work properly with Firefox, the popular open-source browser. Firefox, Safari and other browsers such as Opera are available for Mac OS X.

[tubebender]

I don't know where the problem is. I tried all my browsers to no avail. It just started a week ago. It won't let me complete some transaction from the Pay Now feature but when the dealer sends me another invoice I can complete it. It's like it doesn't recognize my log-in or it's a bad link?.

I have over 2000 positives as a buyer...

[SlowBoat407]

I spent over $50,000 on eBay in the space of one year and never ran into a problem page.

Except the one that says "Stop spending so much money on eBay!!!!"

[Swordmaker]

Complain to eBay... point out that 17,000,000 to 25,000,000 Mac users may be having problems doing business with them since they changed something.

[Swordmaker]

Except the one that says "Stop spending so much money on eBay!!!!"

Except for a few purchases for me, most were for clients and I made money on them...

[SlowBoat407]

Dang it. I figured you'd have some kind of smart-aleck answer for my smart-aleck comment.

[SunkenCiv]

"The lack of support for IE is unlikely to be an issue for Apple users"

I don't know why. It's not an issue for Windows users.

[rimshot!]

Let's not forget iCab!

http://www.icab.de/

[Richard Kimball]

I just hit the FEMA web site with Safari. No problem.

[Richard Kimball]

While I switched to Mac to get away from Windows problems, I'm using Office X on the Mac, and it's by far the best office package around. I don't hate MS, I just think their OS is out of date. I know it has almost all market share, but the legacy support, I think, hurts their attempts to make a new OS. It was a little expensive to make the switch (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Office, etc.), but it's been a blessing to switch to modern software.

[SunkenCiv]

I had the same problem, sort of, the system just couldn't handle the holiday shopping volume. So I've postponed the sale, and have yet another reason to say f- eBay. :')

[lawnguy]

I was messing around with a G-5 at Comp USA the other day, and it had Safari on it, and it seemed like a nice browser.(The Mac was an absolute diamond. I will have one ASAP)

Thanks to many on this site, I'm using Firefox now, and I've been very happy with it.

Any of you remember Cyberdog? I think I had that with OS 8 IIRC :)

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

NJ, For Mac users, there is also http://www.icab.de Icab out of Germany. Peace and love, George.

[HAL9000]

FEMA has fixed their web site for Safari, and several other browsers. Link to FAQ

[CheneyChick]

The one bad side of this: some idiotic websites are hard-coded to only work with IE. I know, I could turn on the "debug mode" of Safari, and set the "user-agent" variable to read like IE, but it is easier to just fire up IE for those few sites.

Thank goodness, those occasions are happening less and less. Sometimes I have luck with Firefox on those sites, but my primary browser is Safari.

[Still Thinking]

Of course, I can't think of many Mac users still using IE....

I heard both of them were really upset about this move.

[Siegfried The Red]

Yeah, it's called the IPod, dude. :)

[SlowBoat407]

Yeah, it's called the IPod, dude. :)

Any landing you can walk away from....

[Siegfried The Red]

Agreed.

[Question_Assumptions]

I still fire up IE for a handful of web sites that don't work well with Safari or Firefox.

[olde north church]

Never had a problem with ebay/safari.

I think the problem with Safari and some websites is related to ASP being used for e-commerce. ASP and the free commerce clause don't work very well together. How else do you expect people to drop 2K or so on .net?

[Old Student]

"FEMA has fixed their web site for Safari, and several other browsers."

This is good. The last I'd heard, they had no intention of fixing it. Darn, government CAN learn! Who'd a thunk it?