Filed under: Software, Internet Tools
OmniWeb 5.5 public beta
Earlier this month, the Omni Group offered a sneak peek of their upcoming 5.5 release of OmniWeb, their feature-rich web browser that pre-dated Netscape by a year. If the preview piqued your interest, you might be interested in their public beta. While this new release doesn't pack in a boatload of up-front whiz-bang features, they have implemented some great back-end stuff like using a more recent version of WebKit than Safari, a Site Inspector (also known as a DOM Inspector) and allowing site-specific CSS rules that update in real time.
John Hicks of hickdesign has a few more details of what's new and upcoming in the final 5.5 release, and if you want to get in on the public beta, you'll have to register in the Omni Group's forums in order to see the forum thread with details on how to download your own copy.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Peter Kirn said 2:17PM on 4-30-2006
Looks good to me. Omni was always a very nice browser. I think we're really spoiled, honestly, not only to have Firefox and Safari as options, but Camino, Opera, and OmniWeb, as well. It's too bad more people aren't adventurous with their browser choice. (Well, to say nothing of those poor, lost MSIE souls on Windows or . . . gasp . . . even MSIE 5 for Mac.)
Reply
Ken said 2:56PM on 4-30-2006
Now I remember why I never tried this out... 30 day trial limit :-
The sneak peek has this same limit on it... bogus.
It seems to have some decent features, but I'll stick with my quick little Camino for the time being... too bad Opera has a GUI from five years ago =
Reply
JB said 3:04PM on 4-30-2006
I'm currently using the 5.5 OW beta and I can say while it still is a beta it feels really solid. Yes there are still bugs to be worked out hence the beta but its very nice. I bought a OW license years ago but something always had me with safari but over the past few weeks I've switched to OW full time and don't remember the last time I fired up safari.
Ken,
I don't know why it would take longer than 30days to figure out if you like the browser enough to buy it. Most places only give a week or two and I think 30 days is more than enough to figure out if you like it. The best way is to go cold turkey on your other browser for a few days and then switch back and fourth and see which you like better.
Reply
Rolphus said 4:21PM on 4-30-2006
I'm just on the cusp of buying OmniWeb. 5.1 had too any rendering problems to be really worthwhile, but the non-core features such as the visual tabs, workspaces, etc, are all absolutely wonderful. 5.5 is a very solid update to the rendering engine, and neatly overtakes Safari in the "use of a current WebKit" stakes. I'll be buying this in the next few days, I think.
Personally, I found that I loved OmniWeb within a week of using it. 30 days should indeed be ample time.
Reply
David Chartier said 4:26PM on 4-30-2006
Yea JB but the fact that OmniWeb costs even $29.95 is about $29.95 more than most people are used to paying for virtually every other browser on the market, including the previously commercial-gone-free Opera.
I don't know about the logistics of being a company and trying to make money off of a browser, but Mozilla made $74 million last year, and I think that was mainly off of advertising sold through Google. By making it their default search engine and getting a percentage of AdSense/AdWord revenue, Mozilla raked in some cash, and it's a business model I wonder if Omni Group could look into for bringing the cost of OmniWeb down or simply eliminating it. They're trying to keep it afloat in a market that, to my knowledge, is filled with nothing but free competitors.
Not to mention the fact that they've switched to using WebKit on the rendering backend, which is now open source. I bet that is a huge development cost they shaved right there.
Reply
computerdude33 said 4:45PM on 4-30-2006
All I know is that OW is a solid product. Definitely worth $30.
Reply
Kevin Ballard said 9:29PM on 4-30-2006
I'd like to point out that the DOM inspector in that screenshot isn't actually a new feature in OmniWeb. It's a new feature in the WebKit nightlies, and OmniWeb is simply enabling it (since they're apparently bundling a WebKit nightly build).
Reply
PhilG5 said 8:46AM on 5-01-2006
It looks just like Camino 1.0!
Reply
Ken said 8:35PM on 5-01-2006
Sorry, I didn't mean to pass off the idea that 30 days isn't enough, I'm just used to free browsers. Being a college kid, if I see a browser with the same basic functionality for free, I'll go with that over paying $30 for some added features.
The browser is very nice, and if I was not needing all of my student loan money for food, I'd pick it up. But for now, I'll stay with Camino.
Another point I was trying to make, was that even the beta had to be registered? It kindof struck me as odd, because usually when beta software comes out for testing it's free.
... although the browser is very nice :)
Reply