Monday, June 11, 2007

Safari for windows?


So, Apple has launched its Safari browser for windows. Somebody told me that Safari claimed that it was the fastest browser running on windows: 1.6x faster than Firefox and 2x faster than IE7. I dont know; the difference isnt that obvious on first use. The pages load just fine.
The user interface of the browser is exactly the same as that found on the Mac. It looks fine.

The first question that was raised in my mind is that who will actually use the Safari browser on windows when you have IE7 and FF2? Unless there is some real compelling reason, I dont think a firefox loyalist like me will move on to use Safari. There are a couple of things about Safari that irritate me you see. First of all, it doesn't support the hotkeys that have been support on IE and Firefox for quite a while.
Type "google" and hit ctrl+ enter on Safari: nothing happens, and you are left with an irritating surprise. There is another kind of URL completion feature on the Safari though. You type a URL, and the browser somehow guesses the .com or .org part of the URL.

The only use I see now is that testing web applications will be easier. Applications that are also targetting the Safari browser can be tested on a windows machine instead of setting up a dedicated Mac machine like we have been doing till now.



By the way, read this post on slashdot which talks about a couple of bugs found on the first day in the windows version of Safari. Oh and one more thing to note: when I checked the plugins installed in the browser by default, look what I found.

Thats the Windows Genuine Advantage plugin bundled right into Safari!

Safari for windows?


So, Apple has launched its Safari browser for windows. Somebody told me that Safari claimed that it was the fastest browser running on windows: 1.6x faster than Firefox and 2x faster than IE7. I dont know; the difference isnt that obvious on first use. The pages load just fine.
The user interface of the browser is exactly the same as that found on the Mac. It looks fine.

The first question that was raised in my mind is that who will actually use the Safari browser on windows when you have IE7 and FF2? Unless there is some real compelling reason, I dont think a firefox loyalist like me will move on to use Safari. There are a couple of things about Safari that irritate me you see. First of all, it doesn't support the hotkeys that have been support on IE and Firefox for quite a while.
Type "google" and hit ctrl+ enter on Safari: nothing happens, and you are left with an irritating surprise. There is another kind of URL completion feature on the Safari though. You type a URL, and the browser somehow guesses the .com or .org part of the URL.

The only use I see now is that testing web applications will be easier. Applications that are also targetting the Safari browser can be tested on a windows machine instead of setting up a dedicated Mac machine like we have been doing till now.

By the way, read this post on slashdot which talks about a couple of bugs found on the first day in the windows version of Safari. Oh and one more thing to note: when I checked the plugins installed in the browser by default, look what I found.