Goodbye Mac IE

Internet Explorer for Mac icon

Hallelujah, say goodbye to browser that was ahead of its time when it first came out, but suffered when Microsoft end-of-lifed it…. The Unofficial Apple Weblog had this to say:

All support for the Macintosh version of Internet Explorer will cease on December 31, 2005 and all official distribution of the browser will cease on January 31, 2006. In other words, IE is finally dying. You won’t be able to download it from Microsoft anymore. Instead they will recommend that you use Safari or Firefox.

On a broader note, this means that fewer sites can justify having IE only versions of their sites. They cannot say, “Well, get IE for Mac and it should work.” No. Start clean-coding your sites for Firefox and Safari compatibility or lose 6 percent (and growing) of your customers.

Official Microsoft Internet Explore for Mac Page

This has been a long time coming, if you ask me. I used to love using MacIE, especially because it was so easy to change the color themes… but it ceased being a viable browser several years ago. Trying to support it nowadays is more trouble than it is worth. Yes, some Mac users still use it as their browser, but they are in a shrinking minority. They’re going to need to get used to seeing a web that is broken, because their browser is antiquated.

Rest in Peace, MacIE.