Safari For Windows
Now that hell has frozen over with the release of an Apple product for Windows (how weird was it to see Steve Jobs use a PC) what is to stop Apple from taking its new strategy to the next level? The most logical place to start is with Safari. In less than a year Safari has taken over the Macintosh web becoming the browser of choice. It is fast, simple to use, and has a fantastic bookmark management tool. It is also built on an open source engine.
Giving PC users Safari would give them another way to experience the usability of Apple software without owning a Mac. And why not? Windows users are increasingly frustrated with their choice of browsers on the PC. Those who like the notion of a world with more than one browser are served well by Opera and others but none of them comes close to the ease of use of Safari. Releasing Safari for windows would also give Apple even more feedback to improve the product. Its a win-win. What do you think? Should Apple release Safari for Windows?
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Most of the work in porting Safari has already been done with the release of iTunes for Windows, I think. The music store (at least on a Mac) is rendered using Apple’s Web Core, the underlying engine used by Safari, the new Help program, Sherlock, and the Mail program to display HTMl/web content. Since the Web Core is based on KHTML my guess is that it’s also used in iTunes for Windows. All that’s needed is a front end (which shouldn’t be more than a 2 MB download).
Where’s the profit? iTunes for Windows makes sense—it’s a free product which helps induce sales of a profitable product (the iPod). iChat for Windows would make sense—it could spur sales of a Windows iSight.
But what’s the profit in Safari for Windows? A simple web browser will not induce people to leave their current platform altogether. Did anyone use Internet Explorer for Mac and thus go and buy a Dell? I doubt it. Safari is good, but not so good that it’ll bring back in sudden switchers the costs of porting it to Windows.
Better for Apple to port only those products that either make money in and of themselves, or which tie directly into devices that make money.
I agree with McPike. Though it was an absolute necessity on the Mac platform, I don’t see any reason to spend all that time and money to give PC users something that they don’t want.
If you think PC users want Safari, I think you’re delusional. Mac users forced to use a PC at work want Safari, and even then it’s a desire based on principle, not on need. PC users couldn’t care less about Safari because Explorer is the best browser that could happen on Windoze, and M$ has made it plain that it will always be that way.
Porting Safari to Microsoft’s turf would only result in more egg on Apple’s face.
One has to look at the bottom line. A vastly superior browser for Windows would fly off the shelves at a $12 to $15. This costs less than a steak meal at Crackerbarrel. The market is enormous, and the real money is in software. The incremental cost of producing or downloading one more copy of Safari is negligible, and the margin is wonderful. Apple already produces lots software for Windows, and it is called Web Objects, File Maker, and Quicktime. No one is more of an Apple fan than me. Most of my retirement funds are invested in this stock. No one wants to see this company to succeed more than this guy. I look at the bottom line rather than getting hung up on who the enemy might be. Apple will win with superior products and good business decisions rather than outdated parochial ideas.
There is an excellent alternative for Windows users by Mozilla: Firebird. As lean and simple as Safari, minus the bookmarking tool.
Remember though that the (much loved by me) Safari bookmark list is consistent with the Apple GUI and not with the Windows GUI, so the Safari bookmark tool is less intuitive on a Windows machine.
There you go…and after that why not porting OS X to Windows…erm…Intel?
The main benefits of porting Safari to Windows will be for the users of Safari for Apple: with Safari I cannot access opodo.co.uk to buy flight tickets, I cannot access my online bank. Maybe if Safari is ported to Windows then web developer will make sure there HTML/JavaScript are supported by Safari.
I agree with a previous comment about “why for?”...where is the money in that move that will definitly annoy Microsoft even more for benefits I cannot really see.
Maybe Apple should concentrate on facilitation the development of OpenOffice.
The idea my not be so far fetched as many might think. On the Apple side Safari is going to need to be able to replace IE5 for Mac because Microsoft might never offer a successor. Many still need to use this aging browser to access some websites that are critical to them due to it using proprietary markup. Dave Hyatt is now implementing the marquee tag in Safari. And I bet they done way more than just add the marquee tag.
The only real reason for doing this that I can think of is to be able to offer a usable replacement for IE on the apple platform. And I think they will need to continue to do that if MS never offers a new browser on the Apple platform.
So having a windows version of Safari my not make any commercial or marketing sense but it just might help Safari become an effective replacement browser for Mac users.
Best reason to do it is to prove the superior interface. PC users still don’t understand the power of simplicity. As as recent switcher I know!
I happened upon this article after doing a search using the query of the article’s headline. After reading through the content and then the comments, I find myself amazed at how the web’s archival nature always brings a smile to my face.
Only three years later, Firefox has an ever-increasing market share, Mac continues its steady upward climb and has a loveable new campaign, and Windows users are still looking for “Safari for Windows”.
In addition, one poster made the comment about porting OS X to Windows (Intel), which is exactly what Apple chose to do not so long ago.
I was puzzled at how many said that it shouldn’t be done if it didn’t make profit; I thought part of the argument of Apple over Microsoft was about the betterment of the user experience, integration of technology without sacrificing security and/or privacy, and sweet looking machines; not about how much dime the company can score off of its loyal users.
There’s allot more to the Mac vs. PC argument than this to be sure, but I’m guessing that most people who have or are going to ‘switch’ were just looking for one more reason to throw them over the edge; at least, that’s how it worked for me.
The next PC I use will be a self-built rig, and I’ll use it only for gaming in addition to, ironically, an XBox and 360. But the next “personal computer” I buy will be a Mac.
Safari for Windows wasn’t the straw that broke my back, but it might be just that for so many others.
Sorry, but I have to disagree. I bought my mom an iMac a few years ago, and after a year or so with Safari and its issues, I had had switch to Firefox.
My personal opinion is that Windows sucks and so does Apple. They just suck in a different way.
As far as Safari - what is the deal with not being able to upgrade to the newer version unless you have a certain release of OSX??? I’m sure that Steve and the boys thought it would be a good way to make more money by forcing people to upgrade their OS, but all it did for me is to put Apple on the “Not to buy” list.