Did Apple Just Kill Safari for Windows?
Apple may not have much incentive to continue offering Safari for Windows users.
Apple Insider found that Safari 6 could officially drop Windows support, especially since information about Safari 5.1.7 for Windows isn't readily accessible on Apple's website anymore and the download has been moved to a support page. So, if you really want to run Safari on your PC, you can still have it if you are willing to go the extra mile. There is no Windows PC version download link on the Safari page anymore.
A quick check with StatCounter reveals that Safari market share remains rather insignificant in the big picture and has stagnated since April at about 7 percent, while the other Webkit browser Chrome has assumed market leadership with 32.76 percent in June. IE was listed with 32.31 percent and Firefox with 24.56 percent.
Interestingly, StatCounter lists Mac OS X market share also at about 7 percent. Even if we do not know how that number relates to Safari browser usage, we can guess that Safari has a very loyal user base on its home platform. In the end, Apple's decision to drop Windows support could simply be a business decision and a way to save money and focus more on the features for the Apple platforms.
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Douglas Perry was a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware covering semiconductors, storage technology, quantum computing, and processor power delivery. He has authored several books and is currently an editor for The Oregonian/OregonLive.
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sephmeister People actually use Safari on Windows? I always assumed they accidentally installed it with Itunes...Reply -
gorz Safari is know to be the slowest browser you can get for a windows pc so in the end, who really cares about this?Reply -
ed_tumb Yeah... my friend (who love love the Apple's products so much... I know you know people like this too) installed Safari in my PC without my permission... and I found out that I don't like it... Firefox ruled, until it became so heavy to be operated on my PC and I switched to Chrome... Chrome are very much lighter than Firefox...Reply -
blazorthon ed_tumbYeah... my friend (who love love the Apple's products so much... I know you know people like this too) installed Safari in my PC without my permission... and I found out that I don't like it... Firefox ruled, until it became so heavy to be operated on my PC and I switched to Chrome... Chrome are very much lighter than Firefox...Reply
Chrome is far heavier than FF, at least it is right now. Whether or not it is faster for some things doesn't change the fact that it uses far more RAM and uses more and more as the tab count increases, especially with Flash-ridden sites. -
s3anister Took them long enough. The people that are smart enough don't use safari and the people too ignorant to know better, regardless, still shouldn't have to use such a horrible browser.Reply -
oneblackened blazorthonChrome is far heavier than FF, at least it is right now. Whether or not it is faster for some things doesn't change the fact that it uses far more RAM and uses more and more as the tab count increases, especially with Flash-ridden sites.Agreed. Chrome uses a stupid amount of RAM. One tab, ONE TAB, uses 90MB of RAM. 2 plugins in addition? 150MB.Reply