Well…perhaps not quite yet…
Apple yesterday announced the public beta of Safari for Windows! The web browser, previously only available to Mac users is now available to download for Windows users as a beta version. The full version will formerly launch later this summer after reviewing feedback from their testing phase. “We think Windows users are going to be really impressed when they see how fast and intuitive web browsing can be with Safari,†said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Hundreds of millions of Windows users already use iTunes, and we look forward to turning them on to Safari’s superior browsing experience too.â€
Apparently, “Safari has always been the fastest browser on the Mac and now it’s the fastest browser on Windows” — something i find hard to believe given the success of FireFox 2 and its huge community of open source and collaborative contributors. Can the Apple marketing machine break apart the established FireFox user community? Personally, i can’t see Apple making a negative dent to FireFox, however Microsoft’s share of the browser market has left itself wide open for a hostile takeover by Apple’s ‘cool factor’. Internet Explorer 7 is still rather poor in comparison to FireFox (ui, functionality and stability). However, if a Windows user really wanted to be more ‘Mac-friendly’, surely they would go out and buy a Mac?
Safari for Windows XP and Vista can be downloaded from the Apple download page.
Netscape have just relaunched Netscape Navigator, a re-branded version of FireFox with social features built in (and more comprehensively than Flock too!)