Safari 3 for Windows

Sign one more up for the browser war, Apple is shipping the third version of its well received Safari WebKit-based browser over to foreign shores to duke it out with the likes of IE, Firefox and Opera... on Windows. The Mac-only browser has already attained a 5% market share, and it seems the Apple folks plan to use it in much the same way they've used iTunes to grow the Mac fanbase by giving Windows users "a glass of ice water to somebody in hell!" Apple claims their browser is up to twice as fast as the competition, and the public beta of Safari 3 is being released today as a free download for Mac OS X, Windows XP and Windows Vista.

[TRicKo @ Jun 11th 2007 11:53PM]

The only thing Safari does better than IE7 is bookmarks. No flash, no imbedded WMP,can't even view video on CNN.com. It'll be novelty.

[SM @ Jun 11th 2007 11:54PM]

One Word Apple : Opera Does everything Safari can and does it better

Nuff Said'

[Brendan @ Jun 12th 2007 12:23AM]

@Hawkman: Mate, you're not getting the message. Sure - it's Safari. We already code for it - when it's run on a mac. Just as IE on a mac was a different critter on a PC - Safari will have it's quirks no doubt. So it's true - it will be another browser you'll need to test for things like font size/rendering - JS and DOM implmentation - niggly little Flash player inconsistencies etc.

It won't be no holiday on Safari.

[dingomutt @ Jun 12th 2007 1:17AM]

oh man what a POS software! Even a half cooked IE7 would work better. I even dare say that netscape navigator 4.x would have worked better than this so called beta software. It's not even ready to be called beta yet.

[Rohit Malhotra @ Jun 12th 2007 2:09AM]

NOT for Windows XP users atleast!!!

1. Performance is way too slow as compared to Firefox
(and I'm not talking "as a matter of perspective", you can use tools like Fiddler, Charles etc... to compares the performance, its even slower than IE)
2. Ugly UI
3. Shortcut keys are a no go, "Ctrl+Enter" doesn't work, and all the other keys are not easy on Windows user, e.g. to switch tabs its written Ctrl+}, which in Windows translates to Ctrl+Shift+]. Y can't they customize it for windows when they're releasing it for Windows
4. Competition (spelt Firefox), kicks Safari's a** anytime/anywhere/anyway.

Un-installed it after using it for 10 minutes. Not worth the effort getting accustomed to a browser made for Mac but running on Windows. Firefox still rules!!!

[Carbonize @ Jun 12th 2007 2:54AM]

Odds are this appears faster because it adheres to the RFC specs. Install Fasterfox and set Firefox to use them as well and you will see which is faster.

[Patrick @ Jun 12th 2007 3:37AM]

Used it for five minutes and instantly went back to Opera. Looks nice enough but doesn't fit in with the Windows UI. It's quick, yeah, but scrolling doesn't seem to work well, and I have Opera set up perfectly for me- I have my Gmail integrated as POP into the actual browser, I have torrents downloading in the browser, and everything just works.

[eirikur @ Jun 12th 2007 9:15AM]

Oh damn, i just crashed with Safari at the 1st Google request by entering japanese characters... That's it.

[my2cents @ Jun 13th 2007 7:54PM]

When is a beta not a beta? Damn it, I just downloaded the new Firefox beta GrandParadiso and its slow rendering pages; slow scrolling; drops frames and the graphics keep getting out of sync, but damn, its great stuff!

The Safari beta does the damn same things, except its super fast, but damn its rotten to the core!

When is a beta not a beta? Simple: When its from Apple. Well, at least, it is when you are unfair and hypocritical! A lot of people on the this and other sites, I noticed, are just that!

[Kenofthedead @ Jun 12th 2007 9:39AM]

What a disapointment. I'll stick with Opera.

[Tyler @ Jun 12th 2007 10:50AM]

This picture says it all.


http://i18.tinypic.com/6c8fprm.jpg

[shnairus @ Jun 12th 2007 11:08AM]

Safari is crashing big time on my Vista machine. The feature that causes the crash is the Bookmarks. Everything under it crashes.

And boy, it looks ugly on the Vista machine.
Uninstalled from my machine. Disappointed, I am.

[Jae @ Jun 12th 2007 12:41PM]

I've used it for a good 4 hours straight just surfing along a bunch of websites and stuff. It is alot faster than Firefox, which was my browser of choice, and it is much faster than IE.

There are a bit of glitches on it, which is understandable since it is a beta. Once all the features are perfected and the glitches are fixed it'll be a find browser. Apple is really going on up. I've always been happy with Safari using my mac and finally a safari for windows. it's a great day for mac fans.

[Hector @ Jun 12th 2007 1:06PM]

Safari has not crashed on me yet, its almost as fast as FireFox for me...

[G-stylez @ Jun 12th 2007 2:10PM]

I downloaded the SAFARI BETA version yesterday for both Mac and PC computers. I haven't had a crash yet... it does load pages a lot faster. There are different glitches between the two operating systems (XP and Tiger). Again this is a BETA... I just hit the Bug button and send them an update on it.

The browser will get better once they officially release it. Count on it.

[jj ravinsky @ Jun 12th 2007 2:16PM]

The whole point was to bring down Windows systems to bring light to how amazingly fast Safari is now running on my MacBook Pro.

[Glenn @ Jun 12th 2007 3:00PM]

If I can't install a extension like the free Adblock plus for FF in 7 clicks and less then a minute, then I won't use that browser. But that's just me.

I did try it and it works really well on my Vista machine. Reminds me just like the Safari I used on my Mac at school.

[Carbonize @ Jun 12th 2007 5:11PM]

I tried it and yes it's fast. Wish you could disable their font smoothing. No crashes but I don't think it's as fast as my Firefox and I don't even have Fasterfox installed on here. The gui is annoying as it totally clashes with windows.

If you want a seriously freaky browser look at http://www.spacetime.com

[Skyler @ Jun 12th 2007 6:10PM]

Hopefully it doesn't have the dreaded Firefox memory creep effect...

[Cory @ Jun 12th 2007 9:03PM]

Let's see:

- Ugly grey UI with black text
- Links open new a window even when option is set to open in a new tab
- Uses almost 100MB of RAM consistently
- No Ctrl-Enter to add ".com"
- Clicking task bar icon doesn't minimize window
- No options to control how various filetypes are opened

Yep, it's a beta. The browsing speed was good, but not worth switching for.

I was really expecting more from Apple. Very disappointed! I'll continue to use FF2.

[brad @ Jun 12th 2007 9:25PM]

As a windows (gag) power-user that is now forced to use Mac OSX at work I really have NO IDEA why people like Mac, really. its the weakest OS I have used since Win3.1, OK its fairly stable but just lacks the speed and power of a properly installed WinXP system (again Gag at MS but puke at Mac)

Mac is for unintelligent computer users. They might be smart at something, but not at operating a computer.

my point? Firefox, if your running a PC get Firefox.

its just my opinion, don't get all huffy.

[Cosmo @ Jun 13th 2007 12:02AM]

Installed it...Opened it, it crashed,then crashed again,then crashed AGAIN(This time taking all of windows XP Home(SP2) with it).

Not going to bother with it again, posting on my other computer(Using Firefox) while the computer with Safari on it decides it needs to run Checkdisk on my perfectly good hard drive....

I'm open to Safari on Windows.(If they can do it well) but if all Jobs is going to do is Half-Ass it he should give up now and let us all retern to our beloved Firefox

[vicks @ Jun 13th 2007 2:43AM]

I'm disappointed. I operate from behind the office firewall, overtime I launch safari it asks for proxy authentication. On entering user name and password. I thought it was a dream come true to completely eliminate IE from work and home.

[Bykis @ Jun 13th 2007 2:54AM]

+1
Try open non english page. For exmple in cyrilica (www.sql.ru) Russia'll love it ;)))

[mark rushworth @ Jun 13th 2007 5:06AM]

If you're safari isnt displaying properly ive documented how to fix it on my blog www.markrushworth.com

[Chris @ Jun 13th 2007 5:32AM]

Been using this on my notebook since it went up on apple.com. Its not crashed once, loaded all web pages fast after I installed all of the plugins.

Loads as quick as firefox on my PC (my PC is soooo clean you could eat off of it), pages load faster than firefox, and browsing the web is painless. Engadget loaded fine too.

Dunno why theres so many people with crashes and weird stuff going on with the browser, probaly all of the hooky software they have downloaded with torrents

[nicholas @ Jun 13th 2007 7:14AM]

am i now feeling unsure on whether I want to switch to apple ? safari on windows certainly didn't give me a good impression ! its meant to be fast? and stable ? I got nothing but crashing and slow loads... think i'll stick with firefox. what a shame...

[Dave @ Jun 13th 2007 8:45AM]

IT IS BETA!!!!! Sheesh. Wait until the real version.

[robotpants @ Jun 13th 2007 11:26AM]

awesome. now get dell to sell you operating system on their hardware for an all around cheaper computer and you might have something.

[Leroy Vargas @ Jun 13th 2007 5:00PM]

Still a beta; I'd better not try it yet as I don't trust betas. I'll better wait till its final release...

Besides, my primary choice is IE 7.0, followed by Netscape 8.1 (combines both IE & FireFox engines into a single user interface).

[Carbonize @ Jun 15th 2007 5:19AM]

Can you sat IE Tab? IE Engine in Firefox.

[Carbonize @ Jun 15th 2007 5:23AM]

Can you sat IE Tab? IE Engine in Firefox.

[darter9000 @ Jun 13th 2007 8:20PM]

Dangerous waters Apple decided to tread in. There are already three monsters beating each other to a pulp for this market... this is no place to bring in a buggy beta.

[J Erlich @ Jun 13th 2007 9:09PM]

The reason for this move is to allow windows developers to test their apps. Safari is the only browser on the iPhone. And web-apps is the way for 3rd parties to add functionality to the iPhone. Apple doesn't really want to compete in the windows browser market (although, they might try to push things like shared passwords/bookmarks between iPhone and WinSafari)

[Tony Rose @ Jun 14th 2007 8:44AM]

Well, that was perhaps the shortest tenure any browser has ever had on my system. How could anyone presume that I want a flat grey colour theme as a default? Browsing was no faster than Firefox or Opera. *yawn*

[Ziv @ Jun 14th 2007 1:31PM]

Safari... hmm not that impressive as it claims to be... kinna slow in loading compared to firefox on my machine.

Well its still good to have one, I can do my web-app development testing on Safari without buying an Apple, right guys?

[Austin Condiff @ Jun 15th 2007 9:12AM]

Ok, well with the text issue some of you are having that you can't see text on the UI (menu's bookmarks, etc., I finally found a solution for!

I had to go into "Local Disk (C:) > Documents and Settings > [username] > Local Settings > Application Data > Apple Computer > Safari" and delete "fonts.plist" so that when I restarted Safari it would recreate the file and correct the problem. Keep in mind that some of those folders are hidden so you might have to either show hidden folders in you Folder Options or type it in your address bar in explorer manually.

Hope that helps, worked for me!

Although I am still not seeing all the text in the websites though.

[jere @ Jun 15th 2007 9:29PM]

I have a mac and i've always used safari. It may not be the best out there, but when I want to surf the web, it works perfectly fine for me.

[Kprofthreat @ Jun 16th 2007 1:42AM]

First off, I'm running all 4 major browsers even as we speak. Resource-wise, here goes:

Firefox- 70k
IE- 45K (Streaming Netflix Watch Now)
Opera- 10k
Safari- 2k

Speedwise, since I've had amazing luck with all browsers today, it's hard to order them without a proper benchmark. This is for both search AND rendering. Offhand:

1) Safari
2) Opera and PF Firefox TIE
3) IE

Crashwise-

Safari - 3 crashes today (beta...not too shabby.)
Opera - 0
PF Firefox - 2
IE - 1

Usefulness (based on UI and support)

Safari - 3
Firefox - 5
Opera - 4
IE - 2

Overall, I'd say the champ is still Opera, but Safari makes a major play. Sure it's a gateway for iPhone and revenue. But often consumers don't acknowledge the purpose of conception, so this shouldn't matter. Now if Apple would only take the first step in being open source, I might be a little more friendly to their products.

In Apple methodology, it's their way or the highway. At least with Windows, you can find options easily without having too much difficulty searching. But then again, Apple does that for a reason: "to save you trouble". Cause Apple has all the programs you want, the way you want- right?

[Robert Anthony Seaton @ Jul 6th 2007 5:18PM]

I too have noticed Safari seems to forget where I put it last. After laboriously dragging it and resizing it, [but only from the bottom right corner, mind you...] you can't just put the cursor anywhere on an edge and have it turn into a sizing double-arrow, another flaw,] to its proper position, [i use a two-monitor set up,] it still insists on glomming right into the exact middle of the screens the next time. Where is there a setting that allows you to tell it 'remember screen position and size'? A setting I should not have to set, as even the lamest Windows browser does this automatically.
tektoni

[mixedupPCandMAC @ Jul 7th 2007 6:26AM]

Well, it looked like a good idea and product at first glance, but after one week of use i'm back on opera:
* bug: crashes on multimonitor nvidea machine when 2nd window is moved to another monitor
* bug: it can't remember userid or password for my router, or many other form fields.
* bug: random high cpu usage and hangs
* bug: plugin listed on website, some don't install, some are for FF anyway. New QT plug does not operate correctly in this browser, works great in all the others.
* usability: have to right click to add a new tab / open new page in tab / etc. yuk. it's just automagic in opera.
* usability: no drop down history list in address bar?
* usability: no autoresume on downloads if browser is closed. no resume either.
* appearance: lack of skin changes, no color, no nothing.
On the plus side: nice printing and bookmark interface.
Conclusion: Safari for Windows has a ways to go yet to be able to compete with FF or Opera, but at least in it's present state it's better then Explorer (but I would rather use an OS/2 webbrowser then IE).

[Tech @ Jul 16th 2007 10:50AM]

I am really glad Apple release Safari for Windows because now I can do cross-browser compatibility testing on Safari without buying a MAC. According to some tests it seems that its slower then Firefox.

[David @ Sep 6th 2007 12:42PM]

Hello from Safari on XP. I downloaded Safari about 20 minutes ago and Apple was right, it is blazing fast in comparison to Firefox and it makes IE 6 look like it's standing still. Unfortunatly, anytime I try to do anything besides entering a web address, it crashes. I went to the Help menu and tried to report the problem to Apple, but when I tryed to send the Bug Report, Safari crashed (is this a Catch 22 or what?). I'm unistalling and waiting until Apple can work all the bugs out of this great new browzer for Windows.

[peterjohndean @ Jun 11th 2007 7:26PM]

Anything is faster than IE but so many people are experiencing problems with the Safari Beta that you have to question Apple's sanity in releasing an unreliable product for Windows uzers who are just going to love trashing Apple. It's not as tho Safari was a good product on Macs- it aint. It's pretty and has some nice features but it's broke. No use blaming other people's sites for its failure to perform, when Firefox and Camino work perfectly.