Microsoft Drops Support for Mac IE

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) has announced it will officially end support for the Mac version of the Internet Explorer (IE) browser at the end of the year.

The move means that Microsoft will not issue any new security updates or patches for the software and will likely send the relatively small number of Mac IE users to alternatives, such as Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) own Safari, or the open-source browsers Mozilla Firefox and Opera, when the support ends on Dec. 31. Microsoft will also stop offering downloads of the software at the end of January.

After embracing the Apple platform with its Mac-friendly browser version, Microsoft has been moving away from the market since mid-2003, when it announced it would stop releasing new versions of the software and would phase out all support.

Users are advised to move to "more recent browsing technology, such as Apple's Safari," Microsoft said in a statement.

While carrying some symbolic weight, the move is not likely to impact most consumer users, many of whom already have adopted alternative browsers. Some potential complications may arise, however, if Web site publishers or businesses have configured their sites to be viewed only through the IE browser.

Site Difficulties Possible

Having a Web site that supported viewing only with IE was much more common in the recent past, before the Microsoft browser saw its market share take a hit from upstarts, most notably the Mozilla Firefox option.

Still, some sites continue to work best only with IE. One of every 10 sites did not fully load when opened with the open-source browser Firefox, reported Web-testing company SciVisum, which recently conducted the tests.

Most alternative browsers will now read sites maximized for IE, though Safari still encounters problems with some.

Meanwhile, the end of IE for Mac is the latest twist in the back-and-forth relationship between Microsoft and Apple. IE got a boost when Apple endorsed the product, which came out of the Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit along with a stream of other software applications.

That endorsement came after Microsoft made a much publicized US$150 million investment in Apple, a move that caused significant consternation among Mac devotees at the time.

Apple then set out to develop its own browser, using the basic code that underlies Microsoft nemesis Netscape to build Safari. That browser has taken off, seeing strong uptake as more Macs are sold with OS X, which includes the browser. Safari held 2.56 percent of the browser market in October compared to 1.46 percent a year before, according to NetApplications.

Browser Battles

Microsoft may be looking to devote more of its browser-building resources to perfecting its flagship IE, which will see version 7.0 released around mid-2006.

"The fact that Microsoft restarted IE development and promised a new, improved product in 2006 says a lot about the impact of Firefox," said Jupiter Research Analyst Joe Wilcox. Microsoft may have an opportunity to grab back the browser high ground when it releases Windows Vista -- formerly known as Longhorn.

One advantage Firefox has enjoyed is that thousands of developers work to create plug-ins and add-ons for the browser, thanks to free access to the source code.

IE has seen its share of the browser market plummet from the high-90s to the mid-80 percent level, with Firefox the main beneficiary. Fourteen percent of U.S. Web users now browse with the Firefox software, according to Web-traffic firm OneStat, which is a remarkable uptake given that the software was launched late in 2004.

One of the changes in that software will be support for Firefox's RSS (really simple syndication) feeds icon, helping to make the Mozilla open source foundation's approach to one-click RSS feeds the industry standard.

Microsoft opted to use the Mozilla icon rather than develop its own because it is in "the user's best interest to have one common icon to represent RSS and RSS-related features in a browser," the company explained in its official blog.