Problem is, if IE no longer exists for the Mac, then the massive amounts of broken browser detectors might actually do some serious harm for the Mac.
Uh, that doesn't make much sense. Since browser detectors run by ID rather than OS. What kind of fuckhead would detect browsers based on OS? What would the point of that be? Safari, as far as I know, announces itself as Safari. Mozilla announces itself as Gecko (I think Opera does as well). IE announces itself as IE, or Gecko, depending on how the detector works. Each announcement comes with a version identifier. A browser detector could use a simple JavaScript to determine whether the browser was IE Mac or IE Windows. And any mods made for IE Mac would be ignored anyway, since nobody would be using it anymore.
It seems to me like dropping IE Mac support was a smart move, designed to get out of a losing market (a bottomless pit, thanks to Safari), and save a little money for the warchest. There hasn't been a new version in years anyway, I think they pretty much gave up on it a long time ago, and are simply making it official.
Now, when Microsoft uses all it's .net C# and J# bullshit to refuck the web and turn it to evil, then they might start gunning for browsers AND platforms. If that ever happens, then we'll be fucked.
Or am I the idiot who isn't thinking clearly here?