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Apple Releases Safari 5.0.5 and Security Update 2011-002
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OK, some facts from a Safari v5.0.3 & Firefox v3.6.13 user:
Safari:
Crashes at least 1x per day. Usually if i try to view HTML5-based pages. All plugins are disabled and no extension are installed. Java is also disabled. A set of tabs requires 1.54 GB of RAM and 3.03 GB of Virtual Memory (VM).
Firefox:
Crashes approximately 1x every month, usually if i enable the Flash plugin. The same set of tabs from above requires 1038 MB of RAM and 1.26 GB of Virtual Memory (VM).
With all the extensions, the status bar and other useful features, Firefox is a clear winner. I heard Firefox v4.x.x is even better.
For real work. One window with apples developer documentation (CoreFoundation framework for example) requires a new tab for each framework component (CFDictionary, CFString, and so on), if you want to access the info in a few seconds. Now you need also the info about other frameworks, and in a few minutes you have > 50 tab open, and that is just the documentation.
Mac OS X has a feature where compromised SSL certificates are revoked as soon as the certificates are known to be compromised. Using the feature is a lot better than waiting for an update to fix the issue.
The feature can be enabled as follows:
Enable Mac OS X to use the CRL and OCSP to provide protection from invalidated digital certificates. The settings to enable system-wide use of the CRL and OCSP are accessible via Keychain Access. On the "Certificates" pane in the Preferences of Keychain Access, set the following:
Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP): Best Attempt
Certificate Revocation List (CRL): Best Attempt
Priority: OCSP
I just updated Safari, and am actually pleasantly surprised.
More usually I've used Opera, preferring that over Firefox in overall appearance, and also responsiveness. Safari, at least with me, has been an also ran in this contest, as seeming terribly slow. But of late have not had much patience with it, and certainly no expert.
But in curiosity after this update my initial impression is that now, strangely or not, it seems quite snappy. No further testing beyond that, although nice to have another alternative.
All the more as I am cheesed with Opera at the moment, with their recent forced update to version 11.0. I'm not a power user with any of these browsers, but immediately noticing two dis-improvements to Opera. One that their full screen view of pictures no longer is, and also they helped themselves to my bookmark list to add some of their own at the bottom (apparently unmovable), and I do not appreciate this blatant product placement/advertising. They do boast that Opera is faster now, and maybe it is, but it hardly helps when the first thing their customers notice is that now missing, or added without asking, and not wanted. I'd also note that about the only reason I've used Firefox is because at times Opera will simply not do something, which in every case Firefox always has. For instance, being able to access Apple's site, but inability to use their navigation at top of page; that persisted for several days (and no issue with Firefox) and then, as other anomalies with Opera have, ceased to be an issue. Still like them, but they are beginning to press their luck.
Might be reason enough to give Safari another look.
When Safari's next big release occurs thats when the big improvements all arrive, especially in HTML5 compliance. Right now 5.0.5 still doesn't use the new HTML5 Compliant Parser that has been out since last August. When the Parsing rules for the released Safari matches the new Parser a lot of performance changes also come with it.
While this may be true, if I have CRL enabled as you suggest (which, by the way seems to be the default) then I can't use the Mac App Store! It will launch then sit there for 5 mins with a spinning beach ball. When the store finally loads it seems to work OK until I switch tabs then it goes into the death spin again!
I - and many others - have sent Apple bug reports about this issue and I would have thought that they would have fixed it with this "Security Update" (especially as them seem pretty keen to get people to use the MAS) but did they... did they ****
So if, like me you can't use the MAS after updating to 10.6.7 - SWITCH OFF CRL in the Keychain Prefs and you'll find it works as before! I know its not going to be as secure but you can always switch it on again when you're not using the MAS.
Come on Apple fix this NOW!!
MAS works fine for me?
Turning off CRL is fine. These are not enabled by default, BTW. Most of the work is done by OCSP if it is set as priority as suggested. OCSP is the more effective solution of the two and with those settings CRL is just for backup.
Sure, but last I checked, Safari was even worse, at least in terms of memory and processor usage with 100+ tabs open. I can't comment on Chrome, since I don't have an Intel Mac.
My general opinion is that all browsers are horrible pieces of software. I have yet to have this opinion contradicted by any browser I've tried, though I have seen some improvement over the past decade.
Safari with 100+ tabs open = 2GB physical memory
Firefox 4 with 100+ tabs open (if it doesn't crash) = 2GB physical memory
There's absolutely no difference in terms of memory usage between FF and Safari.
About the processor usage, they are similar as well, they both use around 80-150% processor when you open 100+ tabs.
And not all browsers are horrible pieces of software. They are actually great pieces of software. Even FF. You should see how amazing Safari in Lion performs with Webkit2. Absolutely no slowdowns due to sandboxing every tab/thread. It uses the silicon much better than Webkit1. Just wait couple months and you'll see a big performance gain in browsing if, like me, you also deal with tabs at multitudes of hundred.
Safari doesn't crash though, which is a major difference with Firefox.
For real inefficient work. There has to be a better way to streamline the documentation. That looks more bloated than FF ever will be...
Also, is there any way I could shut the software updates up? I don't use Safari, so I don't see a real need to update.
Then no browser should be slow for you. For visiting sites at single digits, there's no browser out there which would actually feel slow in a decently modern computer. The only performance hit comes when you work with tons of tabs at the same time. Otherwise, everything should be instantaneous except Flash and some HTML5 stuff.
There are a lot of reasons to open many tabs at once. Reading documentation is not the only one. There are for example some people that just hit tons of news sites when they wake up in the morning, to check headlines at each of them, which can be more than a hundred. Even I have around 30 sites I check every morning, and once I start tabbing links at each, the number grows fast.
You can shut down software updates in System Preferences, but it's not advised. Even though you don't use Safari, you should update it because Safari updates don't just benefit Safari, they are OS wide updates because other stuff use Webkit framework as well.
Interesting
After applying the security and Safari updates the colors on my MBP are all washed out. Turns out something turned up the contrast on it. Had to go into System Prefs > Universal Access > Seeing > Display > Enhance contrast and put it back to "Normal".
After applying the security and Safari updates the colors on my MBP are all washed out. Turns out something turned up the contrast on it. Had to go into System Prefs > Universal Access > Seeing > Display > Enhance contrast and put it back to "Normal".
Downloaded and put the new software on both i7 and MBA all are running without a hitch. Also did my Verizon iPhone no problem there either.
I'm just going to go ahead and leave this here...
http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/landing_chrome_mac.html?hl=en
http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/landing_chrome_mac.html?hl=en
I created a webpage using a simple Javascript loop to loop through the images in a folder all named with numbers in order from 1 to 200 (wedding photos). I opened it in safari. It was "slightly" sluggish, but i was able to go up and down and it was usable. Then i tried opening it in FireFox. Here's where we see a flaw with firefox. The thing froze, and when i opened Activity Monitor, firefox's memory usage was skyrocketing. Conclusion: Firefox can't handle too much at once. Safari and most likely webkit in general seems to be far better at handling huge webpages and in my opinion translates to better design than Gecko. Keep in mind that these photos were done by professionals and as such were fairly high res. I use firefox when I need some functionality that a plugin provides, but for the most part, i stick with Safari. I've tried chrome too, and I like it, but I'm used to safari at this point and I figure that once Lion is out, Safari may very well blow Chrome out of the ballpark with performance and stability thanks to WebKit2, so I'd rather stick with it (Until chrome adopts WebKit2 that is, although that may not happen for some time due to various major design changes).
