Internet Explorer for Mac
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Internet Explorer 5.2.3 for Mac OS X, showing its Easter egg
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| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
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| Initial release | April 23, 1996 |
| Last release | 5.2.3 (June 16, 2003) |
| Development status | Inactive |
| Operating system | System 7.01 through Mac OS X 10.6.8 |
| Platform | 68k (up to 4.5), PowerPC (up to 5.2.3) |
| Type | Web browser |
| License | Freeware, bundled software |
Internet Explorer for Mac (also referred to as Internet Explorer for Macintosh, Internet Explorer Macintosh Edition, Internet Explorer:mac or IE:mac) is an inactive proprietary web browser developed by Microsoft for the Macintosh platform. Initial versions were developed from the same code base as Internet Explorer for Windows. Later versions diverged, particularly with the release of version 5 which included the cutting edge,fault-tolerant and highly standards-compliant Tasman layout engine.
As a result of the five-year agreement between Apple and Microsoft in 1997, it was the default browser on the classic Mac OS and Mac OS X from 1998 until it was superseded by Apple's own Safari web browser in 2003 with the release of Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther".
On June 13, 2003, Microsoft announced that it was ceasing further development of Internet Explorer for Mac and the final update was released on July 11, 2003. The browser was not included in the default installation of Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" which was released on April 29, 2005. Microsoft stopped releases for the product on December 31, 2005 and they removed the application from their Macintosh downloads site on January 31, 2006. Microsoft recommended "that users migrate to more recent web browsing technologies such as Apple's Safari." An archived version of the download is available on Softonic.com, but only works on Mac OS X 10.6 and below, because of the discontinuation of Rosetta.
Versions of Internet Explorer for Macintosh were released starting with version 2 in 1996, to version 5 which received its last patch in 2003. IE versions for Mac typically lagged several months to a year behind Windows versions, but included some unique developments including its own layout engine Tasman.
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