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Microsoft to Stop Mac IE Support

Microsoft Corporation has announced that it will stop supporting the Mac OS X version of its Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser from December 31.

The company has advised Mac users to shift to "more recent" Web browsers such as Apple's Safari.

Analysts are in the least surprised by Microsoft' move, which has reportedly been scheduled since June 2003. They say that IE on Mac is an outdated browser, which hasn' had a major update for around 3 years. Besides with more modern browsers like Safari, Firefox and Camino available free-of-charge to Mac OS X users, analysts don t see the reason for anyone to still use IE.

Although the Redmond, Wash.-based developer stopped work on the Mac edition of IE more than two years ago, its previously published lifecycle for the browser set Dec. 31, 2005 as the end-of-support date. No security or performance updates will be issued after the end of this month, Microsoft said in a bulletin on its Mactopia site.

Web sites designed to work only with IE might have a problem; however more and more developers are looking to create Web sites that are standards-compliant and browser-independent, in order to avoid losing a large proportion of the market which incidentally does not use IE.

Mac users, said Microsoft in the bulletin, should "migrate to more recent Web browsing technologies such as Apple's Safari." Other alternatives include Firefox and Opera, both which are available in versions for Mac OS X.

Resources: InformationWeek

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