We know that many, many of you are big fans of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 for the Mac, even if you're not necessarily fans of the company who put it together. That's fine; everyone's entitled to an opinion, and even though we're currently cursing that product down to its fruit-flavored icons for its buggy DHTML support, you're perfectly free to use any web browser you want-- for now, anyway. While yesterday's rumors of the disbanding of IE5's development team fazed us not one whit, we imagine it may have sent more than a few Mac surfers into a virtual tizzy.

Didn't you hear about this? Reports were flying that the those hardy geeks responsible for delivering what some people are calling the best web browser ever had been summarily disbanded. MacInTouch sources claimed that some of the developers had been absorbed into the (gag) WebTV group, of all things, while others were pounding the virtual pavement holding signs that said "Will Code For Stock Options." Worse yet, rumors spread that Microsoft was discontinuing further development of IE for the Mac entirely. Consternation! Uproar! Suppose Bill was upset that IE5 for the Mac was arguably better than the same product for his own operating system? Or maybe, now that he's pretty much crushed Netscape like a grape, he's decided that there's little reason to keep pouring resources into a free product for a niche market that generates zero income. Assuming the rumors are true, it'll be interesting to see if the Unix version of IE sticks around.

By the end of the day, official word from Microsoft's PR department had attempted to dispel the rumors, however; according to MacCentral, the team is "still together," they're still working on future versions of IE for the Mac, and all that happened was an internal reorganization-- which places the Mac IE team under the WebTV umbrella. For those of you who find that "positive" news more than a little foreboding, trust us; you're not alone. The idea, we suppose, is that some of IE5's coolness will hopefully rub off on the WebTV browser, but the reverse seems just as likely to us.

Besides which, even if you would consider the reorg as good news, we hope you aren't the kind of stooge who accepts everything that Microsoft PR says at face value. MacInTouch has followup confirmation from two other sources who refute Microsoft's claim, insisting that "the team has in fact been broken up, there are no plans for future Mac versions of IE, and many team members are looking for new jobs, both inside and outside MS." So it looks like this little drama isn't quite over yet...