Being that I hadn’t used Apple’s Safari browser for some time I decided to check it out again. It’s now at version 4 beta. This is the exact version I have:

The install completed easily, however on attempt to load www.google.com (yes, that Google), this happened:

Not good.

Everything with my internet connection was fine as my other browsers worked with no issue. Eventually Safari started working properly. Must be a beta bug thing (it is a beta browser, after all).

When you first start Safari you are presented with “Top Sites”, which is a paneled/skewed thumbnail collection of the sites you visit the most.

The panels are clickable, obviously. And yes, Apple thought enough to put an “Edit” button at the bottom left to edit out sites you don’t want to appear here.

If you’re saying to yourself, “I’ve seen this feature somewhere else..”, you’re right. The Opera browser has had this for a while. Safari’s Top Sites is just a fancy version of Opera’s Speed Dial, with the difference being Safari fills in the panels automatically whereas Opera doesn’t (and if I’m wrong there, feel free to comment and correct me).

Tabs in Safari are placed on the very top of the browser. You will either love or hate this. Users of Safari on OS X give mixed reviews on the above-bar tab placement, so you’ll have to decide for yourself whether you like it or not.

The Flash plugin works fine and I didn’t have to install/reinstall anything from Adobe. Browsing YouTube or any other Flash video-enabled site won’t be a problem.

The menu bar, like in Internet Explorer, is hidden by default and is accessed by pressing ALT. However you will probably never need to do this since everything important is accessed via the sprocket-looking icon.

From that menu is all the necessary stuff, like preferences, Private Browsing and so on.

Speaking of which, Safari’s Private Browsing is nice to have but the problem is that there is absolutely no confirmation to let you know it’s enabled after the OK, other than going back to the menu and looking for the checkmark next to the phrase.

By comparison, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer 8 make it very obvious you are have private-mode enabled.

If you used Safari on Windows before, you’ll immediately notice the browser now uses Windows font smoothing (OpenType/ClearType) by default and not the thicker Apple-style font rendering. Is there a way to enable this, which was arguably its best feature? Yes. Go to Preferences and then Appearance and you’ll find it there:

Compared to previous versions there are now several different types of smoothing to choose from. Windows Standard is the default choice, but if you want the fatter/thicker style, use Medium or Strong. Light (at least to my eyes) tends to be too “fuzzy” looking.

If you have bad eyes, you will really like Safari set on Strong. Here’s an example:

“Windows Standard”

“Strong”

It does looks a bit “smudgy”, but for those with bad eyes this may really make a big difference when reading web pages.

If you use “Strong” in combination with increasing the size of a web page (CTRL and plus-key to enlarge, CTRL and minus key to reduce), the larger the font, the better it looks.

Will this browser switch anyone off of what they normally use?

Save for Mac people who want a Mac look in Windows and people who want a browser that renders thicker fonts, not really.

Safari is a decent browser but is trounced by other offerings. It’s not as extensible as Firefox (FF is king of the add-ons, no question). It doesn’t have as much support as IE 7 (and soon to be 8 once more market share is gained). It doesn’t have any super-whiz-bang features no other browser has like Opera does (such as voice  recognition).

Simply put, Safari is at the back of the pack. But as said above, it is decent. Version 4 brings good new stuff to the table.

Try it out, you may like it.

And by the way, the claim of “world’s fastest web browser” isn’t exactly true. That honor belongs to Lynx. A GUI-based browser cannot outrun a text-based one, period.

TUAW reported that there’s a bug in the Safari web browser that if triggered properly could enable an attacker to run malicious software – on Windows.

The only reason this is getting any press at all is because the browser is made by Apple. Safari is an AWFUL WEB BROWSER. The plugin support is TERRIBLE and everyone knows that it only runs proper on OS X. This latest bug just cements that fact.

Heck, most OS X users will even say that Safari sucks. They’ll happily use Firefox or Opera instead.

And so will the rest of us.

Here is something I ran across today which is worthy of sharing as a security notice.

If you are a Windows user who utilizes Apple’s Safari browser, there are some know vulnerabilities you should be aware of. From the author’s posting, Apple has agreed to fix one of the vulnerabilities, but doesn’t think the other issues (one of which allows a web page to download any number of files without your permission) the author elaborates on is worthy of addressing. Microsoft is recommending users to avoid using Safari until a fix is released because the potential risk.

Before you mutter “typical Microsoft”, consider if 100 executable files were downloaded to your desktop without your permission (which is what the Safari vulnerability allows) and then later executed by a piece of malicious software. Considering the underhanded tactics Apple has used to deploy their browser and their well know, yet surprisingly accepted “big brother” tactics, personally I would avoid the browser and stick with either Firefox, Opera or IE on Windows.

According to a story on ComputerWorld, market share of Apple’s Safari web browser as well as usage of Mozilla Firefox both dropped in the last month. Internet Explorer market share actually gained.

Market share for Safari dropped from 5.8% to 5.5%. Firefox usage went from 17.8% to 17%. Internet Explorer usage went from 74.8% to 76%.

I’m not exactly sure what would explain the shift, although that shift isn’t very large.

Apple did make news not long ago for using Apple Update to promote Safari to Windows users who were not running it. This made some people angry, including John Lily, CEO of Mozilla. He lambasted Apple in a blog post where he compared the practice to malware and said it “undermines the Internet”.

My guess is that IE usage increased slightly because of a new wave of people using Windows Update because they are looking for service packs for XP and Vista. Windows XP SP3 is rolling out currently whereas Vista SP1 hasn’t yet officially made its way to Windows Update. But, I have little doubt that people checking Windows Update is leading to the increase in usage of Internet Explorer.

While Safari market share dropped overall, their update strategy certainly was effective when it comes specifically to Windows users. A story on Gizmodo shows that Safari usage on Windows tripled.

Late last week, I posted here on PCMech that Apple was using the software updater to recommend Safari to users who do not have it installed. As I checked the headlines, the CEO of Mozilla has responded by saying that it is “wrong”.

John Lilly, the Mozilla CEO, posted on his blog:

There’s an implicit trust relationship between software makers and customers in this regard: as a software maker we promise to do our very best to keep users safe and will provide the quickest updates possible, with absolutely no other agenda. And when the user trusts the software maker, they’ll generally go ahead and install the patch, keeping themselves and everyone else safe.

Is it actually wrong?

Personally, I don’t think so. A little on the shady side? Sure. However, I really don’t see it being much different than Microsoft using Windows Update to push IE7. The one difference, of course, is that Windows Update does not push unrelated software while that is exactly what Apple is doing.

Personally, I think it is a bonehead move. Windows users, just uncheck the Safari update and skip it. Safari on Windows isn’t that good anyway. Just use Firefox – you’re a lot better off.

Apple has officially begun pushing their Safari web browser into Windows users by way of iTunes. This was in the cards ever since Steve Jobs announced Safari for Windows last year.

This started on Tuesday, when Apple released version 3.1 of Safari. What makes the move unique is that Apple Software Update is rarely used to promote new software. Typically, you get the Update utility whenever you install any Apple software on a Windows machine, such as Quicktime or iTunes. Usually, you’ll only be given updates to those software. Using the same medium to push a product the person never downloaded is new territory.

When jobs announced Safari for Windows, he said:

“Hundreds of millions of Windows users already use iTunes, and we look forward to turning them on to Safari’s superior browsing experience, too.”

To clarify, Apple is not forcing Safari onto your computer. That would, almost literally, cause a war of the nerds. Instead, it is just showing the browser in the Update utility. You can uncheck it to decline. This is actually very similar to Microsoft using Windows Update to push Internet Explorer 7 even though you can decline it.

Personally, I find it a little odd that Apple’s music player is being used to distribute unrelated applications. Word has it that iTunes will also be the distribution medium for iPhone third-party applications (allowing Apple to control it, of course).

Are we going to see iTunes get renamed? Perhaps iDownloader? iGimme? iWannaMoreCrap? I mean, we wouldn’t see Microsoft using Media Player to push a web browser, would we?

Source: ComputerWorld