Okay, so this is a little late, and possibly more than a little off-topic, but we just can't let this one go without comment: faithful viewer Mike D reminded us that CNET recently discussed Microsoft's stated plan of "phasing out standalone versions of its Internet Explorer web browser" and instead developing it further only "as part of the OS." This isn't speculation, folks; Microsoft's IE program manager Brian Countryman said as much in an interview a few weeks back, which is available for your head-shaking, disbelieving pleasure on Microsoft's own web site. To which we can only reply, "Justice Department? What's that?"

Yup, it's great to know that after five years of antitrust courtroom drama primarily spurred by Microsoft's anticompetitive bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows in a transparent attempt to vaporize Netscape, the U.S. and all but two states have settled, AOL appears to be on the verge of pulling the plug on Netscape, and Microsoft gets to tie the browser even tighter to its operating system. Which all goes to show that justice ain't just blind; it's apparently also deaf, mute, stupid, comatose, and dead.

But to bring a little obligatory relevance to this scene, we can't help but notice that Internet Explorer for the Mac is kindasorta not part of Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X. So, uh, what happens to IE on the Mac? Somehow we doubt that Microsoft plans on integrating it with our operating systems. More than likely this is just a case of Microsoft's left and right hands not knowing what its middle six hands are doing, and ol' Brian wasn't even thinking about the Mac version when he spoke. But what if "no more standalone versions" really does mean no more Mac versions? 'Cause we've been hearing rumors about the elimination of Mac IE for the better part of a year, now. Suddenly Safari's raison d'être becomes a lot clearer...

Personally, if IE disappeared overnight, we'd probably dance a little jig and break into the celebratory Tater Tots. We hate trying to support this mess. Our latest pet peeve is its complete inability to handle PNG graphics, unlike just about every other browser on the planet. (The Mac version at least tries, although it still screws up alpha transparency in PNG-backgrounded table cells.) We noticed that someone at the interview asked Brian "When will IE get transparent PNG support?" Brian's reply? "I'm sorry, I can't answer that question for you." Yyyyyyeah.

Ah, the joys of monopoly life: customers have been begging Microsoft for PNG support for four years, but the company has absolutely zero reason to bother implementing it, since its customers are just going to use the product regardless. Long live Safari, long live OmniWeb, long live just about any browser made by anyone who actually cares. Or, indeed, needs to.