Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, Beta Beat
Safari for Windows hits 1 million downloads in 2 days
Just 48 hours after its release, the public beta of Safari 3 for Windows has been downloaded 1 million times. That's pretty impressive. Too bad we don't know what percentage of those downloads went to hard core Windows users, curious Mac users (running Parallels, Boot Camp, etc.) or folks who frequently use both a Mac and a Windows machine (at home and at work, for example). In any case, there are a lot of Windows users who got a piece of Apple goodness this week. We hope they like it.
Thanks, Jesse!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jared said 8:04PM on 6-14-2007
Cool. It took iTunes 3.5 days:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2003/oct/20itunes.html
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Rubbinz said 8:24PM on 6-14-2007
"In any case, there are a lot of Windows users who got a piece of Apple goodness this week. We hope they like it."
Considering how many security holes are in it, they may end up hating it and Apple for it. Not liking it.
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Phillip Howell said 8:34PM on 6-14-2007
Unfortunately, they did not get a piece of Apple goodness, they got a piece of Apple crap. Safari for Windows was absolutely not ready to go into an open beta when it was released, and the most significant bug I've experienced (can't get through my corporate firewall without crashing) is not fixed with 3.0.1. It just wasn't ready.
I'm sure it will be a fine and solid product when it's done, and I hope that the folks who have already downloaded it will not be scared off by the experience.
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kel said 8:45PM on 6-14-2007
Well I downloaded it, running parallels tho , So got it to use in windows :D
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dromesburg said 8:45PM on 6-14-2007
I've been a Microsoft users for too many years and because Microsoft encompasses my job, I am still stuck using Microsoft OS... I downloaded Safari and I'll take the risk of it being beta, because IE is so clunky, S-L-O-W and a resource HOG, why waste any more time using IE! Safari ROCKS in all aspects and I think the good outweights the bad and obviously a lot of people agree.. Suck it Microsoft!
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philip said 8:46PM on 6-14-2007
Rubbinz -- you got that right
i downloaded it but that doesnt mean i like it!
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J.J. said 8:59PM on 6-14-2007
I'm running it on Parallels...Rubbinz is correct. It runs horribly. Extremely slow, and crashes when I open up multiple tabs. Needs more work.
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(01) said 9:23PM on 6-14-2007
I've only had one or two crashes with it since I installed it on my Windows box at work, but I haven't been using it very hard. I've seen a lot of negative feedback for it, but I feel like a lot of people are viewing this as a final product, rather than the beta that it is. I personally use Bon Echo on my MBP and Firefox at work, but I can see that Safari on Windows could gather a following once the kinks are worked out.
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Rubbinz said 9:42PM on 6-14-2007
I'll elaborate on my previous comment. Bugs are totally acceptable in Beta software. However a beta that is jam-packed with security holes--especially on Windows--where exploits are taken advantage of in a matter of hours from release, is not acceptable. On Windows... Maybe the boys in Cupertino don't understand this, maybe they do, I dunno.
In comparison, Firefox normally doesn't contain so many security holes when they're released to public beta. I have no problems running the Firefox betas on my Mac or Windows box aside from the normal software bugs.
I'm not trying to hate on Apple here. I love my Mac. But Apple really does need to get things in order when they program Windows applications, especially in the browser security dept. It's the single largest doorway to exploitation on Windows. Windows users don't have the luxury us OS X users have with a secure OS.
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Jeffrey Bergier said 9:47PM on 6-14-2007
that download rate should be cut in half because everyone had to download it twice. once for the alpha and the second for alpha with better security. I downloaded it on my Vista machine. it is 100% awful... just like iTunes for windows. It just doesn't fit. It is as bad as if someone made a program that looks just like a vista program on a mac. it is awful. and just like itunes, it doesn't work with vista's windowing system. no minimization / opening / closing effect and no drop shadow. that makes it look even worse. I don't use Safari on a mac and there is a good reason. why would someone on a PC use it?
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Jeff Barlow said 9:53PM on 6-14-2007
I've been using it at work on Windows XP since it became available, and other than a few crashes while rendering certain RSS feeds, am loving every minute of it.
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Skoalbandit said 10:04PM on 6-14-2007
Guess people don't understand what BETA means.
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Jim of Davao said 11:44PM on 6-14-2007
@Skoalbandit
I agree. Nobody understands what BETA is even the fsckup Maynor.
Ran Safari on two Windows XP machines and things are running swimmingly.
Once more: it's a BETA.
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Jacques Lema said 1:53AM on 6-15-2007
It seems rather obvious that every web developer working on windows would want that. In many web companies working exclusively on PC they have only one mac in a corner, just to check if it runs fine on Safari and macs in general.
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Vijay said 2:57AM on 6-15-2007
I have downloaded it, and it's UI looks awesome, though there are some defects in HTML rendering..
I liked the feature of resizable textboxes most.
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basscadet said 3:27AM on 6-15-2007
Had a chance to see it on a friend's PC and there are some real bad bugs showing here and there (even the 3.01 version). Sure, Beta means "not perfect yet", however even as a Beta I think it should be more stable. Seems they either rushed it out too soon to make June a month of Apple buzz or it simply isn't good enough as an alternative to IE on windows. Mozilla still reigns my desktop both on Mac & PC.
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basscadet said 3:35AM on 6-15-2007
Had a chance to see it on a friend's PC and there are some real bad bugs showing here and there (even the 3.01 version). Sure, Beta means "not perfect yet", however even as a Beta I think it should be more stable. Seems they either rushed it out too soon to make June a month of Apple buzz or it simply isn't good enough as an alternative to IE on windows. Mozilla still reigns my desktop both on Mac & PC.
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Matt said 5:05AM on 6-15-2007
WORST.BETA.EVER
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yonsito said 6:40AM on 6-15-2007
There is beta and then there is beta. I personally prefer the boot camp kind of beta or the google kind.
For me, Safari for windows is unusable. It crashes when I try to use bookmarks, it crashes when I try to use text boxes and it crashes when I don't do anything in particular. It has severe rendering problems to the point where I can't navigate or even read many web sites.
I like Safari on my mac and I am unhappy with Firefox on my pc because I think it's getting slower and slower but right now it's impossible for me to tell whether Safari for windows will ever be a good alternative or not.
I've never had any problems with Apple's software before, neither on my mac nor on my pc, and trying out Safari was a surprisingly different experience.
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Hank said 7:06AM on 6-15-2007
Can't get it to work on my Vista machine (I'm one of those guys stuck using one in the office, Mac at home). Menus, drop menus, right click menus, the address bar, buttons, text boxes on pages...all blank, no matter how many restarts, uninstall/reinstalls, compatibility modes, etc. No text, no go. What's up with that?
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