I'm saying there was hope. I remember 2005. IE was getting better. Chrome/Firefox/Opera were close enough, once I got one of them working i barely had to do anything. So it was essentially targeting 2 platforms (IE and non-IE) and hoping IE would get fixed. Today that problem is largely solved, but we have created an unmanageable lasagna of complexity in the process.
You are not serious :) Don't you remember IE5/6? Loads if inconsistent implementations and flash that supposed to fix all pain?