When a journalist decided to view the MSN Video page using a browser set to tell the server that it was IE 5.0 for Mac, he saw the following message:

"We recommend the following browsers: Internet Explorer 6 or 7 and FireFox 2.x on Windows XP SP2, Internet Explorer 7 and FireFox 2.x on Windows Vista, FireFox 2.x on Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger."

"What really caught our attention was the recommended browsers: IE 6 or 7 -- predictably -- but Firefox 2.0 as the second option, both on Windows and on Mac OS X," said Fernando Cassia of The Inquirer, an irreverent and much-loved website that reports on IT matters.

"So, we guess that Microsoft is still not aware of the Firefox 3.0 release, yet."

The move to endorse Firefox is notable as Microsoft originally recommended Mac users migrate to Apple's Safari browser when IE for the Mac was discontinued in 2006.

It also contradicts some of the remarks made by Microsoft's leader Steve Ballmer -- he has been scathing in the past about the value of free software packages like Firefox.

"Our goal is to try to educate people on what it means to protect intellectual property and pay for it properly," he said.

It could be said that recommending free software on your website is one way to educate people about paying for it properly -- or maybe not.

What is closer to the truth is that Microsoft have conceded defeat in the browser war -- at least on the ascendant Mac platform.

"We feel like it's smarter for us to do new things rather than bringing another browser to the Mac," said Ballmer.