Safari Turns 20 Today: 'Fastest Web Browser Ever Created for the Mac'

[MacRumors]

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs introducing Safari on the Mac at the 2003 Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Apple advertised Safari as the "fastest web browser ever created for the Mac" at the time.

Apple said the original version of Safari loaded pages over three times faster compared to Microsoft's Internet Explorer on the Mac. Internet Explorer was the Mac's default browser between 1998 and the release of OS X Panther with Safari in October 2003, as part of a five-year agreement between Apple and Microsoft.

"Safari is the fastest browser on the Mac, and we predict that many will feel it is the best browser ever created," said Jobs, in a January 2003 press release. "We are bringing innovation back into this category with the first all new browser created in many years."

A public beta of Safari was made available for OS X Jaguar in January 2003, with key features including the WebKit rendering engine for faster browsing speeds, Google search capabilities integrated directly into the toolbar, improved bookmark management, optional pop-up ad blocking, a simpler file download process, and more.

A mobile version of Safari was released for the iPhone in 2007 and for the iPad in 2010. The browser continues to use WebKit across all of Apple's platforms.

Safari was eventually overshadowed by Google's Chrome, which was released in 2008 and is now the world's most popular web browser across all PCs and Macs. Nevertheless, Apple says Safari remains the world's fastest desktop browser and is 50% faster on average at loading frequently visited websites than Chrome on the Mac.

Article Link: Safari Turns 20 Today: 'Fastest Web Browser Ever Created for the Mac'

 

[philcourage]

Funny that I'm reading this on Arc Browser.

 

[NightFox]

Personally, it's only in the last couple of months that I've finally got Internet access fast enough that the speed of the browser is actually of any relevance.

 

[Middling]

Shout out to KHTML from which Apple forked WebKit. This little open source browser engine from an open source *nix desktop environment was the genesis for the vast majority of browsers in use today. What a success story.

 

[TechRunner]

Safari SHOULD be the fastest browser on the Mac, always.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Funny to talk about innovation when I have to use Safari technology preview as my default browser just to load content on basic websites like Nike. Additionally, I have to actually download extensions onto my computer just to use them inside my browser…why?

 

[webbga]

I have used Safari on my home system since it was introduced. I had no option except to use "Internet Destroyer" at work since that what was on our systems and we were not able to change it. I keep a copy of Chrome, but rarely access it. Once in a while. I will bring up a form that requires Chrome, but that is maybe once a year.

 

[TechRunner]

I have used Safari on my home system since it was introduced. I had no option except to use "Internet Destroyer" at work since that what was on our systems and we were not able to change it. I keep a copy of Chrome, but rarely access it. Once in a while. I will bring u pa from that requires Chrome, but that is maybe once a year.

I'm surprised they haven't updated your work browser to Edge. It's light years better than IE.

 

[philcourage]

I've tried many browsers over the years only to go back to Safari. I don't know if that's a testament of how good it is or how lazy I am.

 

[polyphenol]

Anyone else remember Safari on Windows?

I used to do anything to avoid IE - and usually used, and still use, Firefox. But as a second string, my alternative alternative, I used to install Safari - until Apple dropped it.

 

[Jeaz]

I'm surprised they haven't updated your work browser to Edge. It's light years better than IE.

Yeah. It’s officially unsupported by Microsoft since mid 2022 and was always a security risk, even more so now when it’s not getting updates.

 

[jayryco]

I use Safari everyday and genuinely have no quarrels - I made the switch with Apple Silicon in 2020 coming from being a Chrome user for a decade plus. I have since ceased all used of Chrome (due to ram use and tracking) and now have Firefox as my secondary browser but use Safari 95% of the time.

My only issue with Safari is the bookmarks, I don't know why but I've never fully clicked with the way Safari does them - on Chrome I would use the bookmarks everyday but on Safari its like I sometimes just forget to use the tab to open them and more generally neglect bookmarks than what I use to on Chrome.
I do use the favourites and frequently visited options in new tabs however they are not without their quirks.

 

[Osxguy]

The best thing about safari is the built in interoperability between devices.

 

[StoneJack]

Funny to talk about innovation when I have to use Safari technology preview as my default browser just to load content on basic websites like Nike. Additionally, I have to actually download extensions onto my computer just to use them inside my browser…why?

You clicking on it wrong

 

[ponzicoinbro]

Still the best for me. I only use Chrome for one of my client's CMS because their IT team broke full Safari compatibility and are being lazy fixing it.

 

[Starv20]

Until Safari gets the same extension capabilites than Chrome I'll stick with the latter. Furthemore, in my experience perceived speed is worse on Safari (especially startup latency)

 

[Darth-Kylie]

If only I didn’t encounter a bug – for several years now, on multiple devices – where Safari stops loading addresses typed in the bar, which is resolved immediately if I force-quit the app.

 

[TheOldChevy]

I use Safari and Firefox on a daily basis, Chrome or Edge from time to time. They are all "fast enough". I like the privacy of Safari, I like the robustness of Firefox (and its availability on Windows).

20 years now ? It is like it was (nearly) always there for me. After the Mosaic era, of course

 

[techfreak23]

Safari is great on my Mac. Syncs across all my devices. Tab groups are amazing for that. I do have to use Chrome on my pc. I don’t need anything to sync there other than passwords and bookmarks, but I have the most important ones in both.

 

[MacScape]

The first version of Safari was mindblowing. It was so much faster than other browsers on the Mac (back then Apple/Mac was quite insignificant. the other software-makers just didn't care about the Mac). Never felt this leap ever again.

 

[MBAir2010]

Safari was my main "go-to" browser since then on my iMac G4 to MacBook M1.
now the only browser I used this year and probably wont use Waterfox unless I need to download a video.

why did we have Firefox account? do we really need them?

 

[Warped9]

I have used Safari near exclusively for years without issue or complaint.

 

[rizzo41999]

I find Chrome to be a bloated mess. I alternate between Safari and Firefox.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Call me crazy, but I genuinely believe Safari is the dark horse of Apple. It’s the one app that I can’t imagine switching to another as a default - and that’s high praise given Edge is an excellent Mac browser, which I use for business.

The first time I used Safari I had no idea a web browser could be so bloat free. That was the era where commercial crud would litter your ‘toolbars’ and so forth.

 

[Shanghaichica]

I really have no complaints about Safari. It works really well and syncs across my devices. I first used it when I got the iphone 3G circa and enjoyed it so much that I started using it as the default browser on the windows laptops that I had back then. Now I uses it on my Mac, ipad and iphone and wouldn’t consider using another browser.