http://www.apple.com/safari/download/Apple today released a public beta of Safari 3, the latest version of their web browser. It has quite a bit of new features, but the biggest news is that Apple Introduces Safari for Windows. Yep, Safari is now officially available for Windows as well as for Mac OS X.
I think it's great. Windows users need more browser choices, and with an official Windows version of Safari it will be much easier for Windows-using web professionals to test their work in it.
Obviously I had to take the Safari 3 beta for a quick test drive. My first impression is that it seems like "beta" really means "beta" again. First of all I had problems getting Safari up and running on Mac OS X. It turned out to be caused by two extensions I had installed: SafariStand and Safari Tidy. Both need to be removed before Safari will work properly.
With those extensions out of the way, Safari started working again.
The next problem I ran into was while preparing to post this. The version of Movable Type that I use opens a little pop-up window when you want to enter multiple categories for an entry. Well, in Safari 3 I can't close that window by clicking on the close button in the title bar or by using the keyboard shortcut. Ouch.
Problems aside (it is a beta after all), what's new then? Well, the resizeable textarea is nice. Inline search is cool. Unless I'm imagining things it feels a little faster. Other than that, most changes seem to be under the hood (which is not a bad thing).
About the Windows version... I downloaded that as well, installed it, launched it, and... it crashed. Hmm. Uninstalled, then downloaded the installer that includes QuickTime, installed it, launched Safari, and... it crashed.
So I don't know how the Windows version of Safari compares to the Mac version. Maybe you'll have better luck. Download the Safari 3 public beta and give it a try.
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