“Successful browsers can steer users to vendor-favored Web sites and products. Browsers can create proprietary standards that reinforce commercial dominance (Microsoft’s philosophy) or weaken commercial strangleholds in favor of open standards (Firefox),” Lou Dolinar reports for The Los Angeles Times. “Now Apple is diving in with Safari 3.0 for Windows, a significant upgrade to a longtime favorite that formerly ran only on the Mac (now available as a beta release at http://www.apple.com/safari/download/). What’s the game plan?”
“Safari will run on most everything: Macs, PCs, iPhones, maybe eventually Apple TV… Safari should occupy roughly the same niche, vis-a-vis the iPhone, as iTunes software does to the iPod — you’ll need to run Safari to operate the iPhone, and you may want to run Safari even if you don’t own the pricey little gadget because it’s a pretty good stand-alone browser, too,” Dolinar reports.
Dolinar reports, “For programmers, Safari isn’t just a browser. It’s starting to look like a pseudo operating system that allows them to write for one standard interface and have their stuff run anywhere. It’s not clear how important this is to Apple outside of getting the iPhone off the ground, but it raises some interesting possibilities… What is fair to say is that Safari allows Apple to expand its colonization of Windows — sort of like those wasps that lay their eggs in the stomachs of their paralyzed victims.”
“How does Safari shape up as a browser? Download it yourself, free, just like I did, and find out. I’m not a power browser, and the features I use are comparable to Firefox and Internet Explorer. It is certainly prettier than Explorer, since it looks like iTunes,” Dolinar reports. “Performance-wise, especially considering the version that’s currently available for download is in beta, it seems to live up to Apple’s claims that it is twice as fast as Internet Explorer 7 at rendering pages… While there have been some reports of security bugs, it probably is still safer than IE because it does not incorporate Active X controls, those mini-programs much beloved by Web developers and spyware authors.”
Full article here.
Safari keeps crashing when I try to add urls to the bookmark bar. Also if I try to set the homepage the current URL. Anyone else?
This says it all
What is fair to say is that Safari allows Apple to expand its colonization of Windows — sort of like those wasps that lay their eggs in the stomachs of their paralyzed victims.
“sort of like those wasps that lay their eggs in the stomachs of their paralyzed victims.”
Favorite description of Apple EVER.
On another note, My problems with Safari on Windows is that whenever I minimize it, the next time I un-minimize (for some reason I can’t remember what that’s called) it, it is no longer maximized or even the same size as I had it before. It turns into a small square in the middle of the screen. Otherwise, it’s perfect.
Does anyone else have painfully slow load times in Safari for windows and have a fix to speed it up? I had to go back to firefox at work because of the Safari slow response time. On the other hand I think Safari 3.0 on my mac is so speedy when compared to any other browser that I use on any OS.
@jtrwallace
I thought it was just a great description
But you are right on
Best description of Apple EVER!
Safari 3.0 is stable on my mac, but i had to remove the “safaristand” mod.
@jtrwallace: I have the same issue when I **restore** (that’s the word you were looking for, according to MS vernacular) a minimized window. It’s a nuisance but not a showstopper for me. I have discovered if you use the “Show Desktop” icon in the QuickLaunch area of the Task Bar when you go back to Safari windows are still maximized. Happy surfing!
‘cmon, kids… running Safari 3 beta an Mac and Windows (Parallels) it flies, it hasn’t crashed, and (so far so good) I’ve not encountered ANY of the issues others have mentioned. I’m a serious net user, downloaded the new version as soon as it was up, and my only complaint is the Windows version wasn’t out sooner…
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That’s my tup’pence, thanks!
“…even if you don’t own the pricey little gadget…”
Sounds like someone’s jealous.
By the way, no one owns it right now. It doesn’t go on sale for a couple of weeks.
Wasp? pffft. ‘Orchid’ is the better analogy.
@Geoff:
I have had the crash with adding web locations too. I am guessing its all a windows thing. Depending on what you have on your machine, how its configured and how the firewalls, etc are set up, you get different experiences.
They already have an update out. I figure I will just play with it for a while and let a few updates pile up before really giving it a work out.
en
“Safari isn’t just a browser. It’s starting to look like a pseudo operating system”
Safari is the new ‘killer app’ for developers since it destroys the walls around Redmond. Apple have Cocoa written for Windows (from NeXT Step days) and could, if they wished, release the Cocoa environment to compile for PPC/MacIntel/Win32. And I thought they would do this. Look at WinSafari – it has the Cocoa interface elements all through it. But it seems Apple wanted more.
Over time I guess more Cocoa links will be made available to developers from within Safari for Google, Yahoo and independent apps. Eventually certain apps will ONLY run under Safari, but you will be able to write a mini FileMaker, SQL, Word/Excel/Outlook-like app that launches from a Safari bookmark from any of MacSafari, WinSafari or iPhoneSafari (and soon AppleTVSafari). Write once, deploy instantly many times. Want a really fast version, then write it just for the Mac in normal Cocoa.
Off topic – wouldn’t it be nice if QuickLook had an MS Publisher plug-in and the ability to print what you can view (no editing of course).
@war: Yes, I had the same problem–a normally quick web site would take about 30 seconds to load. This didn’t happen initially, but only after I changed locations and switched to a wireless network. I thought maybe the wireless net was slow, but when I went back to the original location with the wired network, Safari was STILL painfully slow, so I’m back to Firefox now. Other than that, though, no problems.
I dragged all the bookmarks from Firefox to the Bookmark Bar in Safari and had no problems whatsoever. I figured why type URL links when I have them in another browser. They drag right in with the customary box asking what you want to name the bookmark that Safari on Mac already has. If you really would like to get those URLs in there, that would be the rather more lengthy temporary workaround, until they update the beta and add even more stability.
Happily back typing this on Safari 3 beta on my PB G4 =)
MDN headlines don’t show up below the comment box anymore. Is anyone experiencing this on Safari3?
@Bizarro – I do, although it’s intermittent. It happens on about 1 outta three threads here at MDN.
For all the people that complain to apple about Safari – Remember it’s a beta if it crashes or has bugs go to the menubar -> Safari – > Report bugs to Apple… Then maybe instead of complaining you’ll help Safari get better.
Why can’t I drag pictures off Safari and onto the desktop in Windows? I can do this on my Mac. Even Firefox lets me do that in Windows.
What’s the frequency, Ballmer?!?
Martin,
I’ve not had any problems with “Safaristand” on Safari 3 for Mac. I even thought the sidebar was part of Safari 3 till my friend told me it wasn’t on his computer.
To be fair, I don’t use all the features of Safaristand. What gave you problems?
(Sorry, I know the topic is suppose to be Safari 3 for Windows)
MW – “Hell” as in “glass of water”
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Safari on XP working perfectly for me. No problem re-setting Homepage or importing Bookmarks. One small step towards relieving the pain of being forced into XP at work
“One small step towards relieving the pain of being forced into XP at work”
As you’ll note, iTunes for Windows didn’t result in a lot more Mac sales. Windows compatibility did that
Apple will get much more Safari usage on Windows, but don’t expect to switch many people. it’s all about switching people the other way.
Mac users like Daily Reader now finding they can live more happily on Windows.
Apple switched people from PPC to Intel. Despite defending PPC for years, Mac users did a 180 degree turn and started telling the world that it was the OS not the processor that matters, and that Intel processors were now the best.
We’ll also switch people from OS X to Vista, and they’ll tell the world that it’s not the OS but the applications and peripherals (iPod, iPhone) that matter and that Vista is now the best OS.
Extreme commitment to Apple means that Mac users are so easily lead, and cognitive dissonance explains how Mac users are so quick to change sides and support points of view that would have been heresy just months before.
In essence Mac users are exceedingly malleable individuals. That makes them a cult leader or marketer’s dream.
@Blow Jobs:
Bite me.
Go troll somewhere else.
@Blow Jobs
You are an effing ‘tard! That’s the stupidest shite, ever!
I agree with Kate, Go troll somewhere else. You are wasting your breath here.
What is really stupid about your post is this: Things change over time, what was the best option at one time is not later on. If you don’t know this you must be a child, because life experience would have taught you this fact. Ever heard of a “paradigm shift”?
Apple Inc. is the ultimate survivor because it is adaptable, and not afraid to make HUGE changes when it needs to. So, for example, at one time the PPC chip was the best, and IBM didn’t or couldn’t follow through, so Apple moved on. Meh…
It won’t run on XP via VPC for me ???