Internet Explorer no longer a option...

[Morpheus]

It seems to me IE has been ignored by most Mac OS X users around the world. I see no point in using it, its slow, draggy, and its microsoft. So i guess we should all tease Microsoft for their failure to make a better browser for Mac OS X. I remember when that all people used on Macs...but not anymore, share your thoughts...;)

[dkiechle]

I don't think it's bad just because it's Microsoft. It's kind of amusing in a sad way to see how everybody uses Microsoft products when they're pretty much the only game in town, but dumps them with a sneer as soon as a better alternative comes around. Now don't get me wrong: I use Safari today, not IE, and that's OK because it's a better and faster browser. I'm still glad Microsoft made a Mac version of IE, though, simply because for a while there was no real alternative.

There are still a few cases when I have to use IE today, such as when copying a table of data from a browser window with the intention of copying it into Excel. This only seems to work well with IE (though I haven't tried it with the latest version of Safari).

Then, of course, there's MS Office X which, to me, is a thing of beauty. Yes, yes, alternate Office packages are starting to appear, but that's recent. I work with PCs (not by choice) and use Macs when it's my own money, and I can safely say that MS Office is one of the things that has made it possible for me to stick with the Mac in the past. Yet, I suspect that pretty soon, people will say that Office stinks, that [whatever]Office (insert your own favorite here) is much better, 20 times cheaper, and so on. Of course, the final argument will be "and it's not Microsoft."

I used Multiplan and MS Chart on a Mac back in 1984, and I used Excel since version 1. There simply were no alternatives in the early Mac days (Lotus Jazz came later and never took off, while the Informix spreadsheet package WingZ came even later and didn't really take off either). Kind of easy to sneer at Microsoft now that choices are beginning to appear, no? Adopt better products when they become available? Absolutely! Spit on those who provided solutions thus far? Sorry, not my cup of tea.

I appreciate what Microsoft has done for the Mac. Of course, I realize that they didn't to it out of the goodness of their heart, but whatever motivated them, I've benefitted from it. I don't feel happy ridiculing and putting down people or companies.

Daniel

[Morpheus]

That was just a little joke thrown in by me. I really don't have a problem with Microsoft, i had to swallow my pride and say the MS Office was a great product for Mac OS X and they even said the one for Mac OS X was better than the one for Windows. Another product from MS that I like also is MSN Messenger, MSN messenger is a elegant and powerful PM client, and i believe it top AIM. Although there will be a eternal foe between Apple and Microsoft, sometimes both sides have to agree with each-other. I know damn well that Bill Gates sees some of Apple's product and simply stands back and says
"Why didn't i think of that" then he will often try to match up to it. Like when he saw iMovie he immediately had to make Windows Movie Maker or whatever it's called. I truly believe a Mac is a better computer and OS X is the better OS. I think the only thing Windows has over OS X is games, and OS X is going up in that market also.

[Craig R. Arko]

Help requests => Applications forum

Opinion pieces => Software News and Reviews.

So moving.

[Phil St. Romain]

I'm off to set up a new poll on favorite OS X web browser. It's been awhile, and the topic seems to keep popping up. Check this forum for the poll.