What: Microsoft announces the end of the line for Internet Explorer on the Mac

When: June 2003

FUDFactor: Without support for IE-friendly sites on the Mac, Web developers and users will face an insurmountable chasm between IE and non-IE sites

FUDBust: Microsoft's decision to halt development of IE on the Mac leaves Mac users with the current IE, Mozilla, Opera, Apple's Safari browser or browsers from any number of smaller players. And Microsoft acknowledges that Safari is better than IE: Says Microsoft product manager Jessica Sommer, "Safari is turning into a better answer for [Apple] customers."

Sommer is right. Safari is infinitely better than Mac IE. Mac IE has been slow and buggy ever since the OS X beta releases, and it has hardly improved since. Meanwhile, Apple releases a beta Web browser, and it blows away IE in stability and speed. Memo to Webmasters: Make sure your site works with Safari.

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