There'll be no future versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer for Macintosh, Microsoft announced June 13, saying that Mac buyers were served better with Apple's Safari Internet browser than with IE.
"No IE 6 is planned," said Microsoft product manager Jessica Sommer to CNET.com. "Safari is turning into a better answer for (Apple) customers." Sommer said Microsoft would provide security and performance updates but no new version releases, and that Microsoft lacks the Macintosh access it would need to compete with Safari.
Apple has issued a number of Safari test versions but not a final 1.0, CNET.com said. And the Microsoft decision, the tech news Website continued, leaves Mac users in a bind, because many enough Websites are designed to work either best or just with Internet Explorer. "Although Apple has worked hard to gain compatibility with the vast majority of sites," CNET.com added, "it is not clear what the effect will be from the most commonly used browser abandoning the Mac market."
This comes just a month after Microsoft let it be known that they planned to phase out stand-alone versions of Internet Explorer, concentrating instead on developing IE as part of future Windows updates. Microsoft's five-year deal to provide Macintosh versions of IE has expired, but Microsoft said it would keep developing Mac software one version at a time "and would make its decisions based on whether such products make business sense."
