Why did Apple include IE5 with Panther?

uoba

uoba

Re: member
IE5 with Panther? Why would you put a now defunct browser, officially no longer developed? ...that is 2-3 years out of date with its capabilities.

Was it because of an existing agreement with M¢? Was it fear of anti-trust :D ? Perhaps they didn't want to scare OS9/legacy IE5 users?

My reasons for asking... it's becoming increasing frustrating trying to support an old browser that's had its day (especially since Safari's CSS support is so good.)
 
Well, I have one bank site I have to use IE5 for. Other than that, I don't use it. I have been thinking of switching banks cause on one of my accounts which is at Bank of America they have a awesome online bank interface.

My other bank is stuck in 1996 I think.
 
Depressingly I still need ie for some sites, especially university webmail, is a Microsoft Exchange sever and only seem's to recognise ie properly (whatever i set the debug/user agent to). So, for me, it's kinda useful to have it included. It may be old and bloated but so much on the web seems old and windoze based that ie still has some use. Better than having to download it over my 56k.
On the other hand, Safari rocks, and i will delete ie very hapilly once safari works across the board.

ora
 
I think that it is just added for comparison. To show just how slllllooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww IE is.
 
To many banks and other boring pages still need IE. if they didnt include it people would start saying that you cant use those pages with a macintosh.
 
My banking experience is that they don't even cater for IE for Mac! The only reason they do so is because for so long, people complained (and it was the only decent browsers for the Mac 2-3years ago).
 
The fact is most sites say they are "best viewed with IE"... They don't specify WinDoze or Mac IE, so they are obligated to do some testing on IE Mac....

By taking IE away all of those sites would simply stop doing ANY Mac testing vs. use Safari...

Besides many of the sites supporting IE Mac do thier testing under OS 9 using old machines... They are not springing for new G5's.
 
But the original question was why was IE included? Not why might a few people need IE on the Mac.

When I ran the Installer and saw IE, I was very surprised. Given that the Microsoft agreement is overwith and I don't know of any other deals or obligations, I found it odd. Not to mention the superior Safari, you'd think Apple would be inclined to try and weed out IE altogether. After all, it's only a free download away from anyone who really needs it.

So, I agree with uaoba's query, what the heck is IE doing in the installer (rhetorical)? My guess is that it's a very small gesture which says, "We're not quite ready to draw the line in the sand yet. We need another few months."
 
I don't blame them for including IE... that way you can test to make sure the trash can works. What else are you going to toss after a clean install?
 
Plus, I think it helps Windows Switchers to make the decision. You know the ones "Yeah, but you can't run Internet Explorer on a Mac". This way, Apple proves them wrong, then proves them wronger. ;-)
 
Yeah, but it's good that Apple includes it (for some sites as well as those who need to migrate bookmarks over when switching) rather than forcing one to go look for it, if needed, and to have to click on the M$ site. Saves an evil cookie from entering your system. Besides, there's few things are fun as using IE hardcore for a day or two, then fixing permissions and watching the screen goes crazy for a good while.
 
As long as I can delete it any time, I don't feel bothered about Apple including IE. To be honest: even changed my safari icon to IEs. Don't know why, but switching through the programms makes me hardly find the default safari icon. Doesn't happen with IEs "e".
 
MicroSoft annouced some time ago that it would stop the stand alone development (and hence download) of IE ... I don't know, but if Apple didn't bundle it with Panther, where would you get it? Has M$ pulled it yet as stand-alone download? Do magazines still distribute it with their "free" CD's?
 
You can still download IE. But nobody bothers putting it on a disc anymore.

As long as IE isn't the default browser, what's the hassle? If you never launch it, what's the problem? Surely you aren't so lacking in hard drive space that you need an extra 20 MB or whatever it is.
 
For once, I'm glad to have IE. After installing Panther last night, my Safari was DOA. After reading on it here, looks as if I'll have to reinstall Safari from the install disx. Annoying.
 
I too had to resort to IE... not 'cause I wanted, but because Safari died on me several times. Safari is back now, I ended up creating a new user and all my iApps came back to life!
 
Why NOT include IE ? Some people like it, its interface especially. I'd like to see Apple provide Mozilla/Thunderbird and Netscape 7 troo, but the average user'd get lost.
 
IE has been updated for what, 2-3 years? IE5 is fast looking old with its CSS support etc.

As for what's wrong with including it... well, it means people will use it because, it's called Internet Explorer, and that's safe right? And, developers (PC web developers) will only support IE5 for Mac (at a push) because it's the only one they are aware... hence, serious sites not working in Apple's own browser.

I don't see much good coming from making a browser available as if there's nothing wrong (hell, this thing is never going to be developed/improved... it's officially dead!!)

It's bad enough expecting M¢ to update IE for PC (which isn't going to happen anymore due to the their move into commercial MSN Explorer land).
 
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