Safari 3 for Windows
By Paul Miller 
posted June 11th 2007 11:12AM
posted June 11th 2007 11:12AM
posted June 11th 2007 11:12AM
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Safari for windows, Itunes for windows ..... PLEASE APPLE PLEASE PORT THE WHOLE iLIFE TO WIN.(or even better, to Linux =) then I can get a rid of OSX X86 on my
Safari 3 really is a beta. It can't resize via the taskbar command to resize horizontlly or vertically. And you can't save the tabbed pages as the home pages, like you can in EVERY other browser. No thanks, I'll stick with Firefox thank you.
Tested.
Pros:
- Nice design. esp. for Lightbox searching.
- RSS feed manager has nice organization.
Cons:
- Pretty slow, especially compared to all other browsers (IE/FF/Opera). (For example: Cover Flow through a 10GB library seems more responsive.)
- Anti-aliasing is ugly and can't be turned off.
- No separators or new tab button a la FF.
- Live Bookmarks for RSS is simpler and more streamlined than Apple's design.
- Typical Apple limitation on customization. (Yes, simplicity is nice, but unlike FF, it starts out simple, and offer no expansion.)
It's a beta, but I'll stick with Firefox purely for the extensions and large development community.
Ok, the beta really really sucks. The text and images look very bad and trying to highlight something in the URL bar is not fun. Very basic though its really cool how it just added all the bookmarks without even asking or saying something. MS should really follow up on this- Cancel or Allow
Well..just did a 3 min test run. Importing bookmarks is a pain just as it is like on my Mac at work (which is why i use FF on OS X)..it does import bookmarks from FF..but it keeps them in the secret hidden bookmark folder and not on the easy to access bookmark bar (doh!).
It seems slightly faster on my 256KB but the difference is negligibly imo (esp if you do have cable or like) and it still looks boring (brushed metal is ok for a piece of hardware imo like MBP, but doesn't look as good onscreen).
Now just as I was about to go deeper..it's freezed when i start tabbed browsing and won't recover - checking task manager (I'm using Windows XP) with 2 tabs it's using a whopping 112 MB RAM, while my FF is only using 265 MB with 2 windows open with a total 7 tabs (standard..since FF2 it has become a bit of a memory hog with tabbed browsing, also freezes once I pass the 10-12 tabs limit..my PC I guess)...still, not a good sign for Safari beta!
Time to do the ctr+alt+del kill-that-app routine! I'll keep it a while longer but as is FF is still the man!
Wow a browser I give less of a crap about then IE....That impressive.
Really with Opera and Firefox. What is Apple's point? There HAS to be some other reason then "spreading the goodness" My guess is its going to be used in other ventures on Windows at some point.
Okay, so Safari doesn't even render the menus properly on my XP machine. And Firefox's developer ALPHA is more stable than the Safari BETA! Something seems wrong here....
Hate to break this news to all you Engadget readers, but the current download is by no means a beta but an alpha version. Because when IE7 and FF were releasing their public beta versions they were not as horrible as this. Check out the image from my own installation.
http://i13.tinypic.com/4oux8oi.jpg
Guess it's back to the ol' reliables
safari sux. period.
on the times i do have to use a mac I install firefox immediately. users/clients always have issues in safari. it doesnt even let gmail chat bloody work (in whatever version is installed here). so many sites just never load correctly, and it crashes.. So the XP/VISTA version would have to suck as their itunes and quicktime versions do.
One Word Apple : Opera Does everything Safari can and does it better
Nuff Said'
@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.
The whole point was to bring down Windows systems to bring light to how amazingly fast Safari is now running on my MacBook Pro.
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.
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.
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
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.
What a disapointment. I'll stick with Opera.
This picture says it all.
http://i18.tinypic.com/6c8fprm.jpg
Hopefully it doesn't have the dreaded Firefox memory creep effect...
Safari has not crashed on me yet, its almost as fast as FireFox for me...
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
+1
Try open non english page. For exmple in cyrilica (www.sql.ru) Russia'll love it ;)))
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?
If you're safari isnt displaying properly ive documented how to fix it on my blog www.markrushworth.com
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
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...
IT IS BETA!!!!! Sheesh. Wait until the real version.
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).
Can you sat IE Tab? IE Engine in Firefox.
Can you sat IE Tab? IE Engine in Firefox.
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.
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)
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*
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
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).