Safari on Windows, Leopard Debut at WWDC

comm2k writes to mention that Apple has announced a Windows version of Safari along with Leopard, the new version of Mac OS X at this years World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco. "He said Safari was 'the fastest browser on Windows', saying it was twice as fast as Internet Explorer. A test version of Safari for Windows XP and for Vista is available for download from the Apple website. Apple is hoping to replicate the success of iTunes, which has proved enormously popular on both Macs and Windows machines."

Open Letter

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear PC users,

It's no secret iTunes turned to shit as soon as Apple had to start catering to PC users. It was version 4.1, if memory serves, around the time they let you cavedwellers into our music store. The demand for PC compatibility is the major reason iTunes is still a Carbon app, according to insiders, when every other iApp has since been rewritten in Cocoa to behave like a decent Mac application.

Now there's Safari 3's bastard child, Safari 3 for PC. Although the Mac flavor sits gracefully on the desktop with its Cocoa brethren, the Windows version sticks out like a cold glass of Metamucil in the men's room at Penn Station. Technical limitations of Windows ensure Safari looks shittier even than most other PC applications. It won't be long before the fecal tide comes sloshing to Safari on Mac, as happened with iTunes before. You PC users, crashing the party again with your filth.

Frankly, we think Apple should revoke PC compatibility from across its entire product line. Only when the last PC user is forced from our platform shall we enjoy freedom, again and at last, from your tasteless, backwards demands.

Love,
Mac users

fastest?

[brunascle]

i'm pretty sure i can get lynx running through cygwin.

Re:I can't get it working

[rlp]

Wow, they have replicated the experience of iTunes on Windows!

Re:Open Letter

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear Mac User,

Whenever Apple ports and application to Windows, they always make it slow and buggy. First they tormented us with Quicktime - a slow player by all standards, which had the audacity to attach itself to every media file on the system, even files it could not play. As if that wasn't bad enough, it crashed more than Windows Media Player.

Apple then comes out and adds iTunes. This "wonderful" piece of software runs several services in the background, some of which are normally not even needed/used, yet each sonsistantly sucks up several percent of a modern 2+Ghz CPU, and dozens of MB of memory. Added to the lackluster performance in comparison to other music players, like Winamp, this is not a desireable app.

Now Apple wants to "grace" us with Safari? Please, tell your computer company to be honest when it tries to get users to switch, and not provide us with software that slows down and gums up our Windows machines, so that we are deluded into thinking that Apple is better.

Ajax as iPhone development environment? No Thanks.

[tji]

I bet that went over like a turd in a punch bowl. Talking to a bunch of Cocoa developers at WWDC, who have been listening to Apple sing the praises of Cocoa for years, and then heard about how iPhone was running "real Mac OS X" "with Cocoa" in the iPhone announcement.

Now, Apple is telling us nice job learning Cocoa. But, for what we consider our biggest product ever, you should forget that and use Ajax. Welcome to web development.

Also.. sorry about delaying Leopard, but look at why we had to delay it.. We've got Safari for Windows!!!

I'm totally getting the Ultimate version.

[Onan]

I enjoyed Jobs's sniping at recent Windows versioning:

"We've got a basic version, which is going to cost $129. We've got a Premium version, which is going to cost $129. We've got a Business version, $129. We've got an Enterprise version, $129. And we've got the Ultimate version, we're throwing everything into it, it's $129. We think most people will buy the Ultimate version."

Re:Open Letter

[elrous0]

Dear Mac Users,

We feel the same way about our game software. Why on earth companies like Blizzard would waste their time catering a bunch of Kool-aid drinking hippies, when they could be spending their time developing better content for us real gamers, is beyond me. Gaming communities have only went downhill since these companies abandoned their traditional user base and let a bunch of Prius-driving, artsy, self-righteous, cocky assholes into our ranks.

Therefore, I propose a truce. We knuckle-dragging rednecks will agree to forgo Mac software on our PC's if you hemp-sweater-wearing cult members will agree to give up our game software on your Macs.

Deal?

-Eric

Re:Well, it's definitely fast...

[rduke15]

Yes, it's what they call smoothing. You cannot turn it off. The choices are "light", "medium", and "atrocious?" (can't remember the last option). Anyway, the choices are blurred fonts or even more blurred fonts.

Re:Open Letter

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear Mac Users,

We welcome this separation. While we're at it, please resurrect the "megahertz myth" and stop using processors made popular by PC users. Oh, and also, please stop capitalizing on compressed digital music made popular by PC users and Napster, a PC-only application. Without riding the mp3 coattail, Apple would not have only dropped the "Computer" part of its name, but the "Apple" part too. We also ask that Apple stop hyping the iPhone as something new, as PPC phone users have had that exact same interface for what, two years now?

We recommend that Apple go back to its roots and segregate itself from anything PC related, such as returning to ADB and Superdisks. In the U.S., we would also like Apple to develop its own 173volt power grid, to be called iPower, so that we PC users do not have to share anything with you iQueers.

[iHeart],

PC Users

Re:Firefox is the most at risk

[Goaway]

No.

Re:A Kick In The Balls For Microsoft

[hlimethe3rd]

If there's one thing iTunes needs, it's a bigger, clunkier installer with more bundled software. That way, after installing (or even just upgrading) iTunes, not only will you have to spend time hunting for all the settings in QuickTime to get it out of your way, but also Safari. Yes, I think this is a great idea.

Re:Open Letter

[Watts Martin]

First they tormented us with Quicktime - a slow player by all standards, which had the audacity to attach itself to every media file on the system, even files it could not play. As if that wasn't bad enough, it crashed more than Windows Media Player.

But look on the bright side: QuickTime for Windows is remarkably ugly.

Re:Open Letter

[Overly Critical Guy]

And in the meantime, we console gamers wonder when you shooter-playing high schoolers will run out of money for your yearly $3500 neon-lit Dell upgrades whose sole purpose for existence is to run content-lacking tech demos that win "Game of the Year" awards from paid press outlets. It's you guys who have let gaming communities run themselves into the ground by turning gaming into an ever-shrinking, expensive tech niche with no mainstream appeal.

When you're waiting in line for your $400 video card to draw frilly plants on screen so you can feel all hardcore for running DirectX 10, I'll be blasting away in Metroid Prime 3 or perhaps grinding in World of Warcraft on my MacBook.

Re:Open Letter

[Sciros]

Wow does anyone read comments anymore (or their context) before rating them?

Re:Open Letter

[elrous0]

I'll tell you the same thing I told my wife. Baby formula only lasts a few weeks at most. But that new video card will be good for at least a year.

Re:Open Letter

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear PC Users,

We have received your request that we cease and desist using all computer technology popularized by PCs. You have little idea how long we have waited for a complete segregation of the PC and Apple world, and the chance to free ourselves from the yoke of relating to the hoi polloi!

Your request is feasible, on the grounds that the PC world conform to the same constraints and cease using all computer technology initially introduced by, or initially popularized by, Apple.

To that end, please stop using the following: 3.5 inch floppy disks; USB; Firewire; WYSIWYG software of any type; computer cases that are not puke-colored (technical term); computers for the purposes of design, desktop publishing and the like; graphical user interfaces; spreadsheets; any home or small business computer that is not A) assembled from a kit, or B) interfaced with through punch cards, audio cassette tape, blinking LEDs, and/or toggle switches.

Please enjoy computing with your Altairs! As an extra bonus, your operating system will be the cheapest and most stable Microsoft software yet developed!

Sincerely,

Mac Users

Re:Quicktime is terrible, I confess

[Psykechan]

Dear non-Mac user,

I sincerely apologize for Quicktime on Windows. I'll admit that it is a horrible piece of coding that has made many users scream in agony when opening a .MOV file. Quicktime for Mac is only slightly better but we don't have a choice. It's as integrated into the OS as much as IE is in Windows.

I want you to realize that I am not directly responsible for the application but I used to recommend .MOV as an alternative to people using (Win only, we mean it!) .WMA or (God help us!) .RM when those were the only choices given to us users by the majority of web outlets. It's almost like voting between a giant douche, a turd sandwich, and some other thing.

I'm not going to apologize for iTunes for Windows. It wasn't my fault that you people went and bought iPods in droves. It's technically your fault that Apple Computer changed their name to Apple Inc. Don't go telling me that it was because you couldn't wait for the Zune.

On the plus side, at least full screen playing of Quicktime files [apple.com] is going to be in Leopard without paying an additional $29. Maybe someday this amazing, new, and wonderful technological advancement could find its way over to your platform as well.

Re:Ultimate server version? Family pack?

[dr.badass]

I'm fairly certain that when I upgrade to the Ultimate version that it will cost more than $129.

If you applied the same demented logic to Windows, the "Ultimate" version with "server niceities" would cost you...well, hell, I don't know. You try to figure it out. [microsoft.com]

At least clippy has not been ported to vi

[Billly Gates]

Now would [tri-bit.com] be truly awefull. [sourceforge.net]