Starting by the end of the year, the software giant announced today it would no longer offer new versions of its browser for computers on the Mac OS operating system.
Versions of Explorer for Mac have been on the decline since June 2003, when Apple released its own Safari Internet browser. Since Safari’s release, Microsoft has limited itself to the release of security patches for Mac users on Explorer, despite the fact that Explorer was the default browser on OS prior to the introduction of Safari.
In April, however, Safari became the default browser bundled in the OS system.
The Mac version of the Internet Explorer support site now reads: “In accordance with published support lifecycle policies, Microsoft will end support for Internet Explorer for Mac on Dec. 31, 2005, and will provide no further security or performance updates.”
The site recommends “Macintosh users migrate to more recent web browsing technologies such as Apple's Safari.”
The move likely will increase Safari’s share of the browser market, though not by any sizeable percentage when compared to Explorer’s continued dominance. Metrics firm Net Applications estimated Safari currently holds a mere 2.78 percent share of the overall browser market.
However, that share marks a more than two-fold increase since Dec. 2004, when Safari claimed only 1.22 percent of the browser market.
