Well, it's not quite a folding of the entire Windows system, but someone at Microsoft did just post an announcement that there will be no further major additions for the Mac version of IE.
Thank god, we won't have to put up with that shite much longer!
quote:"Though we continue to work on updates for Mac IE 5.x, there will be no IE 6 for the Mac. This was s difficult decision, but clearly the right one for our business and our customers. We've been working closely with Apple on their plans for Safari, and it's clear that they will be able to deliver a more complete product than we could because of their ability to integrate with the OS in ways third parties could never do.
I don't know what that bullshit about "integrate with the OS" is, though. Safari is a single self-contained application that can be installed and deleted at will. Probably just a lame attempt to qualify their acknowledgement that Apple put out a better browser than they did, after IE had been out for six or seven years (even for the Mac), and that Apple's browser is still in beta-testing! (This isn't including third-party browsers -- I use Camino [Mozilla] myself.)
Okay, so this is trivial, but kinda cool news IMO. Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Bucking for a place on Jobs' payroll, are we?
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Judas Priest, don't you ever get tired of this?
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Well, when was the last time you heard of Microsoft actually deciding to PULL OUT of some market rather than push in further?
Siegfried: Never! Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
OK, so Microsoft have admitted that Mac programmers can maybe write a better bit of Mac software than Microsoft programmers. Big deal. It's still Microsoft, however, who are deciding this, because they are more successful and own a share of Apple. When this situation changes, and Apple starts dictating who should be writing Microsoft code, let us know.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Umm, the Apple/Microsoft deal expired naturally in the middle of last year at the end of its original five-year term, and wasn't renewed. That's why Apple waited until this January to release its Microsoft software-challenging products, Keynote and Safari.
Lee, what do you mean by saying that Microsoft can't do better programs than Apple for the Macintosh? Last I heard, the Macintosh Business Unit was SUPPOSED to be doing programming for the Mac! You can't do that if you're lacking the know-how...
It doesn't matter all that much anyway... I've been reading a few Mac websites who've said that less than 3% of all visitors using a Mac are also using IE.
I just think it's amusing that Microsoft has actually been beaten back on one front. It's not a huge victory, since as I said there aren't many people using it anymore, but considering the nature of Microsoft's monopoly creeping everywhere, it's still an encouraging one for me.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Or some people just really and desperately need to go out and rent a hooker for a couple of hours.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"You can't [program Macintosh software] if you're lacking the know-how..."
Microsoft has been developing software of all sorts for years w/o the know-how...
Posted by Cartmaniac (Member # 256) on :
Oh, the know-how is there, it's the motivation that's lacking...
"I've been reading a few Mac websites who've said that less than 3% of all visitors using a Mac are also using IE"
So that's, what, a grand total of three IE hits?
Posted by Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
Bass-Snare-Highhat.
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Ooof, it stings. Yeah, bully for Apple and all that. Hey, Safari renders great and is zippy and all, but I still think IE is better at certain things. Like because I'm paranoid I like to be able to tell it which sites from which to accept cookies, and there's a setting where it just asks you if you want their cookies everytime yougo to a new place. Also IE has that thing where if you want to download pictures off of pages you can have it pop up a dialogue box and ask you where to store it which can be useful if you're, say, trawling for pics of various configurations of space-ships or something impossibly nerdy like that and even more nerdily you have them all organized on your hard disk and the people have given the files intuitive names like lz-3341445154.gif and you've got a couple dozen of those sitting on your desktop you have to sort through and place in the appropriate places.
But, like, since they started a Mac programming wing, the Microsoft versions of Office have been good and not all bloaty like Word 6 and stuff. So, I mean I'm glad Apple's product is doing well, the fact that they're going to be the only namebrand browser game in town (Mozilla, yes, I know but, like, Netscape chokes on hairy scrotum) doesn't make me a whole lot more comfortable than if it were M$.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)