Apple had been dependent on Microsoft and Netscape for good browser options. Microsoft released IE5.5 for Mac which was neither IE5 nor IE6 compatible, and then nothing. Netscape gradually turned into a gigantic steaming pile of crap.
I might add that Chimera -> Camino was the beacon of hope before Safari came out, and once it got going on Mac OS X, other folks got so excited they demanded a cross-platform version which eventually became Firefox.
In general, the need for a non-sucky non-bloated web browser alternative to IE reached a critical mass at that time, not just on Mac OS X.
"I might add that Chimera -> Camino was the beacon of hope before Safari came out, and once it got going on Mac OS X, other folks got so excited they demanded a cross-platform version which eventually became Firefox."
I'd never heard this and I can't seem to find any references to it. Would you mind pointing me in the right direction?
As mentioned in the story Dave Hyatt was the main guy behind Chimera, (a streamlined platform native browser using the gecko renderer but ditching mail, composer etc. from Mozilla Suite) and with Blake Ross, behind Phoenix, which became Firefox (a streamlined platform native browser using the gecko renderer but ditching mail, composer etc. from the Mozilla Suite).
Technically, they were both faking the platform native element to some degree, but they were at least trying to fit in with their respective target platform(s).
I might add that Chimera -> Camino was the beacon of hope before Safari came out, and once it got going on Mac OS X, other folks got so excited they demanded a cross-platform version which eventually became Firefox.
In general, the need for a non-sucky non-bloated web browser alternative to IE reached a critical mass at that time, not just on Mac OS X.