Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

This Safari on Windows thing...

R.Youden

R.Youden

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 1, 2005
2,093
40
I really don't get why this has been done.

I can understant QuickTime and iTunes as one is an industry standard and the other makes loads of money, but where does Safari fit in the grand scheme of things. The only possible answer I have come up with is that it has something to do with the iPhone.

What does everyone else think?
 
I can think of a number of good reasons to do it

1. More crack to entice Windows users
2. Certainly related to iPhone apps
3. More market share = more people developing sites that are compliant and not built around IE only.
4. Tweak Bill gates and Ballmer
5. Apple- World's Largest Provider of Windows Software
 
I am sure it will increase market share, but you have to ask why?

What will Apple get out of people on Windows running Safari? I can't wee someone using Safari and saying, hey this is great, I must rush out and get a new iMac (well not enough to cover the development costs anyway).

Maybe we will see the day when every piece of Mac software is avaliable on Windows?
 
what I do not like about it is I have not been able to import my bookmarks from internet explorer into safari yet on my pc. :(

jack
 
rdowns said:
I can think of a number of good reasons to do it

1. More crack to entice Windows users
2. Certainly related to iPhone apps
3. More market share = more people developing sites that are compliant and not built around IE only.
4. Tweak Bill gates and Ballmer
5. Apple- World's Largest Provider of Windows Software
Click to expand...

I second this, I think it is a very good move and Apple's behalf. Also a lot of Mac owners have Windows boxes, it helps having a program on each platform that looks the same.
 
helps for the web marketshare, helps to get more development for the iPhone. means more people and businesses get the iPhone
 
HugMnster said:
what I do not like about it is I have not been able to import my bookmarks from internet explorer into safari yet on my pc. :(

jack
Click to expand...

Are you sure? It supposedly imports automatically the first time you launch. I know it did on my PC. Do you not have "Imported IE Favorites" in your bookmark list?
 
One reason i'm happy they did it is that it's helping me through my macless times :(. Sold my old mbp and am waiting till leopard to get my new one and safari for windows is really helping me keep hope in this land of darkness called windows xp.
 
Although I'm impressed with Safari 3.0 so far, I installed the iFox Metal theme on Firefox on my Mac, Linux and XP machine. Looks better than the brushed metal Safari on the Mac.

You get a stable, non-beta, non-microsoft, open source browser that looks mostly like Safari (albeit slower than Safari 3), with all the add-ons you could wish for.
 
R.Youden said:
I am sure it will increase market share, but you have to ask why?

What will Apple get out of people on Windows running Safari? I can't wee someone using Safari and saying, hey this is great, I must rush out and get a new iMac (well not enough to cover the development costs anyway).

Maybe we will see the day when every piece of Mac software is avaliable on Windows?
Click to expand...

gco212 said:
Raising marketshare forces developers to make sure Safari works properly with their web sites.
Click to expand...

Asside from the iPhone this is the big one. I know plenty of people who would use Safari if they could use it at work/on Windows as well. They only want to learn/be familliar with one browser and at the moment if you work like that your choice is almost always Firefox. Now all those users can use Safari on the Mac (if they weren't already) and on the Windows machines increasing the Web hits of Safari and encouraging site compliance. Now everyone who does browsing during the day at work on their PC can increase Safari's presence as well.
 
I guess it's aimed at all those Mac users who have to use Windows at work. Not having Safari for Windows available skews the numbers in favour of IE or Firefox. Apple want to double the Safari market share so that it becomes something web developers test against.

Ultimately I reckon it's got something to do with feedback via Parallels or Boot Camp. Why do people use these? Apple has asked, and the answer has come back that too many web sites require IE and that there is no IE for Mac. Boot camp is meant to just remove obstacles to people switching. Once Apple has them as customers, they want to remove the reasons why people need to boot Windows at all.
 
think of the extension.

Quicktime
iTunes
Safari


If the trend continues, a lot of commonly used sw on the pc will be apple making the switch that much more easy and enticing
 
I use safari on the mac. Period. But I refuse to use anything but firefox on the pc. Firefox is the bomb on the pc. Nothing will ever beat it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back