9 replies to this topic

[doug123]

News Source: Earthtimes.org



Posted : Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:00:00GMT
Author : Abdul-Salaam Masheer

Apple's release of its browser Safari for Windows has been touted as a big hit by the company, stating that over a million copies have been downloaded in the first two days of its release.

Apple decided to expand the Mac-specific browser as a direct challenge to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. However problems surfaced immediately and the company had to rush in a patch to fix three flaws for the beta. An Apple spokesman said that while two of the flaws are minor, a third flaw can crash the browser.

"Apple issued an update to the Safari for Windows public beta today to fix the security vulnerabilities that were reported earlier this week. Safari updates are delivered to beta testers through Apple's Software Update Application", the spokesman said.

An Apple Advisory warned that attackers can execute an arbitrary code by exploiting the flaw in the browser. It went on to say that the issue has come to notice only for the Windows version of the browser and Mac OS X users have no threat from the flaw.

"By enticing a user to visit a maliciously crafted Web page, an attacker can trigger the issue which may lead to arbitrary code execution. This update addresses the issue by performing additional processing and validation of URLs. This does not pose a security issue on Mac OS X systems, but could lead to an unexpected termination of the Safari browser", the advisory said.

Apple claims that the Safari 3 browser is 2 times faster than IE7 and 1.6 times faster than Firefox 2 depending on the system configuration. Minimum requirements for the Safari 3 browser Windows XP or Windows Vista, 256 MB of memory and a 500 MHz Intel Pentium processor.

Related stories:

1. Wired.com: Who in Their Right Mind Would Run Safari on Windows?

2. AHN: Safari Download Hits 1M; Only 3 Bugs Patched In Latest Release

3. Techworld: Safari for Windows: Why?

To download Safari [BETA] for Windows from Apple: Click here

[Brainbox]

Well, maybe a big hit, but not for imminst. It seems to leave out the upper menu buttons.

Furthermore, most websites are displayed in a funny way. Browser on goof balls (big green ones), or maybe it's just me. Apples and Windows DO NOT match. Not yet at least. [lol]

Edited by brainbox, 17 June 2007 - 09:42 PM.

[Gerald W. Gaston]

Hey Brainbox, I am using it now for this post... please clarify 'upper menu buttons'. And did you logon while visiting imminst with it? And I'm no Safari fan... just checking it out.

[doug123]

Apples and Windows DO NOT match. Not yet at least.  [lol]

If you want your Windows Machine (XP SP2) to look like an Apple, I might suggest you run uxtheme.dll and drop some themes into your Windows/Resources/Themes directory! You can get the patch free here:

http://www.softpedia...SP2-Final.shtml

KoL's Tiger 2 looks just like Apple's Tiger:

http://www.studiotwe...isualstyles.htm

I plan on getting Vista as soon as I hear it is as reliable as XP in Service Pack 2 stage. This is off topic, I guess, but does anyone know how reliable is Vista anyways? I guess I'll need to ask this dude:

http://www.tweakhoun...vista/index.htm

Take care.

[Ghostrider]

Go fly a kite.

No, seriously, if you want the OS X look on a PC, go fly a kite.

Not sure if Safari is faster than Firefox with FasterFox extension. That's what I am running and it is pretty fast. I am already running outside RFC specs. Servers beware.

http://www.flyakiteo...om/screenshots/

[Ghostrider]

Ok, just downloaded Safari. I think Firefox + FasterFox extension is still faster. I kinda like the look and feel of Safari better though, but could just be because it is new. I think Firefox has had a safari skin for a while. I guess I could have just downloaded that instead.

[Ghostrider]

Ok, after 15 minutes of using Safari, I think I like it better than Firefox. Besides using a better default font set, they do some processing on the colors that are displayed and everything just looks easier on the eyes. It's good.

[zoolander]

Just because something is a big hit i.e a lot of downloads, does not mean that it's a good product. The number of Safari downloads are related to consumer curiosity.

It's going to be hard for Safari to beat the amount of extensions provided by Firefox

[Ghostrider]

I decided to uninstall it, but for minor reasons.

1. I realized that it just was not as fast as Firefox w/ FasterFox. I am not sure how they got 2x faster, but that must have been on one of "their" systems.
2. Firefox, the actual browser, takes up less space both on desktop (I can see more of a webpage in Firefox compared to Safari) and on disk / in RAM compared to Safari.
3. I want FireFox to "win".
4. And a few more, but they were very minor.

[doug123]

I decided to uninstall it, but for minor reasons.

1. I realized that it just was not as fast as Firefox w/ FasterFox.  I am not sure how they got 2x faster, but that must have been on one of "their" systems.
2. Firefox, the actual browser, takes up less space both on desktop (I can see more of a webpage in Firefox compared to Safari) and on disk / in RAM compared to Safari.
3. I want FireFox to "win". 
4. And a few more, but they were very minor.

Thank you for providing us with your feedback, Ghostrider.

I haven't experimented too much with Apple's beta browser.

I alternate between Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla Firefox (the most recent one). I've found that I.E. 7 tends to load some pages better than the latest Mozilla Firefox and vice versa; so I tend to use both.

If I felt Apple's beta browser was safe and as well supported as I.E. 7 or Mozilla Firefox, I'd probably use it. It seems at this time Windows is installed on over 90% of computers -- so it seems most of the R&D and beta testing is invested in Windows Computers...in fact, I wonder if it's even possible for Apple to develop a competitive browser for the Windows OS in terms of functionality and safety. Apple's market share last I checked was about 3 or 4 percent -- it seems a significant portion of their revenues come from cross-platform hardware such as the Ipod. My point is the following: can you expect Apple -- a company with 3 or 4 percent market share of computers -- to develop software comparable -- in terms of safety and functionality -- to Microsoft?

However, there seem to be some areas where Microsoft isn't too competitive -- Google seems to have a virtual monopoly on the Internet search market (it doesn't matter whether you run Windows, Apple, Linux, &c.) -- deservedly so, however -- they sort of pioneered Internet search. Similarly, MySpace seems to also have a virtual monopoly in it's terrain as well -- deservedly so as well, it seems. I guess I don't see Google or MySpace needing to worry too much about competition -- at least I don't know of any worthwhile competitors.

...Anyways, to go back off topic, another one of my favorite Visual Style (.msstyle) developers -- b0se -- has released a particularly beautiful style -- it's called GUI Relax...and you can download it free here.

Another excellent VS b0se released is called Opus OS.

...I thought some might appreciate b0se's excellent artistic talent.

Take care.

Edited by adam_kamil, 03 July 2007 - 08:53 PM.