Why did Apple include IE5 with Panther?

[uoba]

IE5 with Panther? Why would you put a now defunct browser, officially no longer developed? ...that is 2-3 years out of date with its capabilities.

Was it because of an existing agreement with M¢? Was it fear of anti-trust ? Perhaps they didn't want to scare OS9/legacy IE5 users?

My reasons for asking... it's becoming increasing frustrating trying to support an old browser that's had its day (especially since Safari's CSS support is so good.)

[ScottW]

Well, I have one bank site I have to use IE5 for. Other than that, I don't use it. I have been thinking of switching banks cause on one of my accounts which is at Bank of America they have a awesome online bank interface.

My other bank is stuck in 1996 I think.

[ora]

Depressingly I still need ie for some sites, especially university webmail, is a Microsoft Exchange sever and only seem's to recognise ie properly (whatever i set the debug/user agent to). So, for me, it's kinda useful to have it included. It may be old and bloated but so much on the web seems old and windoze based that ie still has some use. Better than having to download it over my 56k.
On the other hand, Safari rocks, and i will delete ie very hapilly once safari works across the board.

ora

[jhawk28]

I think that it is just added for comparison. To show just how slllllooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww IE is.

[Decado]

To many banks and other boring pages still need IE. if they didnt include it people would start saying that you cant use those pages with a macintosh.

[uoba]

My banking experience is that they don't even cater for IE for Mac! The only reason they do so is because for so long, people complained (and it was the only decent browsers for the Mac 2-3years ago).

[TommyWillB]

The fact is most sites say they are "best viewed with IE"... They don't specify WinDoze or Mac IE, so they are obligated to do some testing on IE Mac....

By taking IE away all of those sites would simply stop doing ANY Mac testing vs. use Safari...

Besides many of the sites supporting IE Mac do thier testing under OS 9 using old machines... They are not springing for new G5's.

[mindbend]

But the original question was why was IE included? Not why might a few people need IE on the Mac.

When I ran the Installer and saw IE, I was very surprised. Given that the Microsoft agreement is overwith and I don't know of any other deals or obligations, I found it odd. Not to mention the superior Safari, you'd think Apple would be inclined to try and weed out IE altogether. After all, it's only a free download away from anyone who really needs it.

So, I agree with uaoba's query, what the heck is IE doing in the installer (rhetorical)? My guess is that it's a very small gesture which says, "We're not quite ready to draw the line in the sand yet. We need another few months."