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Apple's Removes Mentions of Safari for Windows, But Version 5.1.7 Still Available For Now [Updated]

nagromme

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
It doesn’t make sense that a product which leverages new OS X features and underlying technologies, should update in lockstep with its companion version for an entirely different OS out of Apple’s control: Mountain Lion certainly calls for a new Safari... but Mountain Lion certainly does NOT call for a new Windows Safari.

If Safari for Windows does live on, I think Apple should stop even trying to number the Windows version the same and let each one leverage the strength of its OS. Let Safari be a better fit for Windows than it has been, and let it advance independently on OS X. (And of course, share things when possible—definitely the rendering engine—but without the pressure of simultaneous release.)

In other words, an approach more like what Microsoft has used (at times) with Office. Office for Mac has been its own thing with separate versioning.
 
Rodimus Prime

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
Not surprised by it to much. Safari for windows was crap and a bad browser. What speaks volumes about how poor Safari is over all is it was at 5% market share before going windows and today it is STILL at 5% market share. That should speak volumes at how poor it is right there.
 
A

acosmichippo

macrumors regular
May 7, 2008
172
6
The only reason I use Safari in windows is because of iCloud bookmark syncing (and reading list and tab syncing, to a lesser extent). It's either that or... IE. Luckily I rarely use windows, so I can put up with an older version when I need to.

I REALLY wish apple would open up bookmark syncing to other browsers, especially if they stop supporting Safari for windows. Would be one shrewd move to force all windows iCloud users into IE.
 
ravenvii

ravenvii

macrumors 604
Mar 17, 2004
7,585
492
Melenkurion Skyweir
Safari was originally released on Windows so web developers can test their websites for Safari on Windows. However, with Chrome using Webkit and being so popular, this is much less necessary those days.
 
L

Laird Knox

macrumors 68000
Jun 18, 2010
1,956
1,343
MonkeySee.... said:
I like it too. For some reason though it keeps crashing and windows shuts it down. I've even disabled all extensions.
Click to expand...

If you leave the browser open Flash will eventually crash. On my system (8GB, 4 core Xenon) it takes between a day and a week depending on how many Flash-heavy pages I have loaded.
 
KnightWRX

KnightWRX

macrumors Pentium
Jan 28, 2009
15,046
4
Quebec, Canada
nagromme said:
It doesn’t make sense that a product which leverages new OS X features and underlying technologies, should update in lockstep with its companion version for an entirely different OS out of Apple’s control: Mountain Lion certainly calls for a new Safari... but Mountain Lion certainly does NOT call for a new Windows Safari.

If Safari for Windows does live on, I think Apple should stop even trying to number the Windows version the same and let each one leverage the strength of its OS. Let Safari be a better fit for Windows than it has been, and let it advance independently on OS X. (And of course, share things when possible—definitely the rendering engine—but without the pressure of simultaneous release.)

In other words, an approach more like what Microsoft has used (at times) with Office. Office for Mac has been its own thing with separate versioning.
Click to expand...

That's just bad. It was bad when Microsoft did it with Internet Explorer for Mac, it's bad if Apple were to do this with Safari for Windows. A lot of the new Safari 6 features don't rely on technologies of OS X (offline reading lists, omni bar, incognito tabs (did I just use the Chrome names for the new Safari features ? :p) etc...) and could be made for Windows if Apple thought the product was worth supporting.

In the end though, I'd just drop it if I were Apple. There is barely any value in porting Safari to Windows. But I will strongly disagree with you. If they are to maintain the product, they should maintain both in sync and compatible with one another, contrary to Microsoft's approach with seems more than not to relegate OS X to a "2nd citizen" status.
 
R

RedCroissant

Suspended
Aug 13, 2011
2,268
96
smoledman said:
LOL - as if anyone ever used it on Windows. Apple software on Windows(Safari, Quicktime, iTunes) is horrible bloatware.
Click to expand...

Whoa there! I know that before I switched to Mac, I was running Safari, Quicktime, and iTunes. I was even editing the registry to make WMP import .mp4 files so that I could stream the movies to my PS3.

And yes, that might read strange that I used iTunes AND WMP, but I had to stream!
 
A

astrorider

macrumors 6502a
Sep 25, 2008
591
126
davebarnes said:
Opens fine using Acrobat Pro 8.
Click to expand...

I'm sure it works fine in lots of things, but not OS X Preview which was what I said.

chadua said:
I don't understand what point you were trying to make.
Click to expand...

"Open it in OS X Preview"? If you had you'd see it was not readable, maybe a font issue. I just find it funny when you try to follow the Windows HIG on a Mac you're presented with unreadable text. See the point relative to the statement that Apple doesn't follow the Windows HIG?
 
charlituna

charlituna

macrumors G3
Jun 11, 2008
9,636
816
Los Angeles, CA
diamond.g said:
That would be a great experiment. Apple not release iTunes for Windows.
Click to expand...

There's possible legal issues if they do. Just like there were that started them releasing it. All goes into courting anti-trust fights.

Mind you they won't have all the same awesome features should iTunes for the Mac ever be mega enhanced or even split up but that's to do with the core OS more than iTunes. So iTunes for Windows will likely always be something of a mess compared to the Mac version.

ANd that Safari is stuck on 5.1.7 is a similar game. These new tricks are possible in part due to Mac OSX and iCloud. they just can't happen on Windows without a ton of work (if at all) and Apple isn't a Windows developer as its core focus so they aren't going to bother.
 
charlituna

charlituna

macrumors G3
Jun 11, 2008
9,636
816
Los Angeles, CA
Nevzorus said:
WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME?! I hate Firefox and Chrome
Click to expand...

Why?

Easy. to make you have to buy a Mac if you want to use the latest Safari. It's an evil and diabolical trick that Steve and Tim learned from their true master.

excellent.jpg
 
P

Pianoblack3

macrumors regular
Jul 18, 2012
158
0
Scotland
charlituna said:
Why?

Easy. to make you have to buy a Mac if you want to use the latest Safari. It's an evil and diabolical trick that Steve and Tim learned from their true master.

Image
Click to expand...

Yes, cause they both knew people would dish out 4 figures to buy a computer to use the latest Safari, when they have plenty of other options besides Chrome and Firefox… Opera comes to mind.
 
KnightWRX

KnightWRX

macrumors Pentium
Jan 28, 2009
15,046
4
Quebec, Canada
astrorider said:
"Open it in OS X Preview"? If you had you'd see it was not readable, maybe a font issue. I just find it funny when you try to follow the Windows HIG on a Mac you're presented with unreadable text. See the point relative to the statement that Apple doesn't follow the Windows HIG?
Click to expand...

The Windows HIG is for Windows developers. The OS X HIG is for Mac developers. And the font issue seems to be your own machine since we have a screenshot showing nothing wrong with Microsoft's PDF in Preview.

And no, I don't quite get your point... Don't follow the HIG of others but push people to follow yours... I don't get it.
 
J

jamesnajera

macrumors 6502
Oct 5, 2003
463
179
For Me,

I use Safari for regular Internet surfing, I use Chrome when I want to watch Hulu.

This way I do not have to do Click to Flash or any of those other extensions to block Flash in Safari. Safari is my "clean" web browser for general Internet surfing, and I don't waste time downloading Flash ads.

When I want to watch something with Flash, then I open Chrome. This combo seems to work really well for me.
 
L

Lennholm

macrumors 65816
Sep 4, 2010
1,003
210
astrorider said:
I'm sure it works fine in lots of things, but not OS X Preview which was what I said.



"Open it in OS X Preview"? If you had you'd see it was not readable, maybe a font issue. I just find it funny when you try to follow the Windows HIG on a Mac you're presented with unreadable text. See the point relative to the statement that Apple doesn't follow the Windows HIG?
Click to expand...

Opened it in OS X Preview, perfectly readable, no issue at all.
 
M

mono1980

macrumors 6502
Feb 15, 2005
420
190
Lansing, MI
ravenvii said:
Safari was originally released on Windows so web developers can test their websites for Safari on Windows. However, with Chrome using Webkit and being so popular, this is much less necessary those days.
Click to expand...

But Chrome and Safari don't render everything EXACTLY the same. They use different forks of webkit as far as I know.
 
U

Undecided

macrumors 6502a
Mar 4, 2005
704
168
California
That's too bad - I like and use Safari for Windows. I'm posting from it right now.

No one else has the "reader" feature, which I often use. Or the reading list feature. Or the spell check in text boxes (AFAIK). And, I just like the way it feels.
 
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