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yet another Microsoft blogger

# Sunday, December 18, 2005

Slashdot | Microsoft Ends IE for Mac

Slashdot has an article about Microsoft ending MacIE support.

Of course, since I used to work on MacIE’s twin sister, MacOE, I was looking for any good nuggets or posts from former MacBU folks. I figured Jorg would write something. He paints a rather interesting history of what happened to development of MacIE after 5 was released.

MacIE 5 was developed by an amazing team of folks. They paved the way for many features that were later hacked into the browser via add-ins (Forms Autofill which is now in the Google and MSN Toolbars, but not IE Proper) and some which have yet to make an appearance (web scrapbook). I had a lot of fun working with those folks as they worked tirelessly for many months (I remember when MacIE 5’s release slipped 6 months for a 1 year project). Tantec was relentless in pursuing full CSS and DOM compliance, and got further than anyone else at the time.

The best feature of Mac IE 5 never shipped. We had to remove it from the product 2 days before releasing it. For many months there were two builds of MacIE 5, one with this feature and one without. That was also true for the new Mac IE “chrome” which was a guarded secret, till, well, Apple also happened to have the same idea and they called their’s Aqua :-). Those were strange times.

 

Monday, December 19, 2005 2:30:27 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
So, what was the feature that was left out of MacIE?
Monday, December 19, 2005 8:18:33 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Can't really say :-). Maybe one day.
Monday, December 19, 2005 8:58:35 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Ah, right. Microsoft invented Aqua but Apple beat them to it by 2 days. And MS had done nothing to establish a copyright or prior art... they just gave away a great technology and interface to their competitor. Yeah. Yeah..... I buy it. Good riddance, IE. You make my life as a developer a living hell. Firefox and Safari, I love you baby.
Monday, December 19, 2005 10:07:48 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
how the hell could an aqua equivalent be a part of a browser? please explain this one.
just a guy
Monday, December 19, 2005 12:37:45 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
"Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard / Are sweeter" might be true for Grecian urns, but not for software. Hypothetical features do not a browser make. The reason the OS model works is not because OS programmers are more talented (you and your friends sound like a highly-qualified and highly-motivated bunch), but because it can proceed pragmatically with a focus _on the software_ whereas the MacIE team was subject to all sorts of managerial constraints. Firefox is a better browser not for what it _could be_, but for what it _is_.
another guy
Tuesday, December 20, 2005 8:10:06 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
My reference to Aqua in IE had to do with the striped/ribbed skin + the blue aqua like buttons. Both Mac OS X and Mac IE 5 developed this look and feel independantly and it was inspired by the iMac.
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