# Is Internet Explorer for mac gone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651 "2008-11-27T03:05:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/1 "2008-11-27T03:05:49Z")
I went for an upgrade for IE, but the page “no longer exists”. That jogged a vague memory that IE was no longer going to support mac. No real loss, imo, but one of my sites prefers IE. I presently use Safari, which works great. I did use my “once per century” search priviledge, but was unsuccessful on my one try. You all know what that means. 😉 Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/2 "2008-11-27T03:11:34Z")
Long, long gone. Wikipedia says: > [@](#): > > On June 13, 2003, Microsoft announced that it was ceasing further development of Internet Explorer for Mac. The browser was not included in default installation of Mac OS X v10.4 “Tiger” which was released on April 29, 2005. Microsoft discontinued support for the product on December 31, 2005 and removed the application from their Macintosh downloads site on January 31, 2006. Microsoft recommends “that Macintosh users migrate to more recent web browsing technologies such as Apple’s Safari.”[1] ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/3 "2008-11-27T03:15:47Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > …but one of my sites prefers IE. You mean one of the sites you regularly visit? Contact them and tell them to fix their site so it isn’t reliant on one browser, it’s woefully unprofessional. If you mean it’s one of your own sites you maintain yourself, then you should do the fixing. It won’t be hard to find the generic equivalents to make it widely compatible. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/4 "2008-11-27T03:16:43Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > Long, long gone. > > Wikipedia says: Good old wiki. I should have known, but I didn’t try them. Thanks a trillion, **Pork Rind**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/5 "2008-11-27T03:18:03Z")
That’s odd. Earlier today, I heard from a coworker that Apple had somewhat recently started including IE with new Macs. Now I don’t know what to believe. Not that I care; I’ve got a Mac Mini and usually run Linux on it, and neither partition is sullied by IE. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/6 "2008-11-27T03:27:06Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > You mean one of the sites you regularly visit? Contact them and tell them to fix their site so it isn’t reliant on one browser, it’s woefully unprofessional. > > If you mean it’s one of your own sites you maintain yourself, then you should do the fixing. It won’t be hard to find the generic equivalents to make it widely compatible. It’s a site I just started using, one that provides me a service. You’re right, it’s unprofessional. I’m in the process of telling them exactly that. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/7 "2008-11-27T03:43:34Z")
> [@waterj2](#): > > That’s odd. Earlier today, I heard from a coworker that Apple had somewhat recently started including IE with new Macs. Now I don’t know what to believe. Not that I care; I’ve got a Mac Mini and usually run Linux on it, and neither partition is sullied by IE. Completely erroneous. Apple **has** been providing a _browser_ (Safari) with new machines for several years. IE for the Mac is dead and gone. Good riddance. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/8 "2008-11-27T12:50:02Z")
I gave up on IE and started using Firefox before I made the move to Mac ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/9 "2008-11-27T14:32:54Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > I went for an upgrade for IE, but the page “no longer exists”. That jogged a vague memory that IE was no longer going to support mac. No real loss, imo, but one of my sites prefers IE. I presently use Safari, which works great. > I did use my “once per century” search priviledge, but was unsuccessful on my one try. You all know what that means. 😉 > Peace, > mangeorge In case there are folks out there who still have a need for IE on the Mac-I find that iCab spoofs IE quite well. There are sites that try to check and make sure you are accessing them with IE-rarely public sites-and iCab can spoof almost any browser and work. > **[iCab - The Taxi for the Internet](http://www.icab.de)** ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/10 "2008-11-27T16:09:15Z")
I didn’t think we’d see the day where not only is Internet Explorer _not available_ for Apple computers(that run OS X), but Safari _is available_ for Windows users. Yet, here we are. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/11 "2008-11-27T20:56:52Z")
For the few sites I run into that Safari can’t handle, I just boot up Opera and between the two of them, everything is covered. I probably should just surf in Opera, but I have an irrational attachment to Safari. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/12 "2008-11-27T21:05:36Z")
If anyone was desperate enough to need the old versions of Mac IE, they are still out there… [http://mac.oldapps.com/internet\_explorer.php](http://mac.oldapps.com/internet_explorer.php) ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/13 "2008-11-27T21:07:49Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > For the few sites I run into that Safari can’t handle, I just boot up Opera and between the two of them, everything is covered. I probably should just surf in Opera, but I have an irrational attachment to Safari. I also have an attachment to safari. I say that, as **GuanoLad** does, if the site can’t handle safari, then that site needs fixing. ---
**Author:** ![PopeJewish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/14 "2008-11-28T04:50:23Z")
you could also use an extension for Firefox (and probably Opera has something similar, dunno about Safari though) that makes websites think it’s IE and they’ll run just fine. I personally am not a huge fan of Safari, though I’ll grant it’s about eleventy-billion times better than IE. I’m a Firefox fan, personally. Love me some extensions 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-internet-explorer-for-mac-gone/474651/15 "2008-11-28T19:05:20Z")
Keep in mind that spoofing doesn’t always work. You might be able to convince the server that Firefox is IE, but if the site wants to use an IE feature that Firefox doesn’t have you’re still SOL.