Safari Browser from Apple
I heard through the RSS world that Apple had released a windows version of Safari, so even though FireFox is so well established with me, I never have left a browser untried since Mosaic, so I downloaded the thing.
I was dismayed that it wanted to force me to reinstall iTunes, the aggressive store they want to establish on my desktop. I had un-installed iTunes just recently after trying to revive a dead iPod somebody gave me. I resisted, but then did install it to see if it would help make Safari run right.
Well, Safari di not run right at all. It installed OK, but came up with NO TEXT in the pull down menus, just little dashes where the working but secretive pull down choices were.
I re-installed, tried some things on the windows side, fiddled around, but could not seem to get it running. It even locked up the computer twice, so I re-booted to see if that was a requirement.
Then I got the inspiration! The last mac I owned needed these bit-mapped fonts to operate. Maybe Steve Jobs, Andy Hertzfield, Bill Atkinson, and those guys who signed the inside of my original MAC 128 in 1984 had left a requirement for those to be present!
So the choice for now was to un-install with some regret, and wait for a few versions to shake out before trying again.
4 comments:
I did find through Google, a Discussion http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/06/fix-fonts-issues-in-safari-3-for.html
that addresses this issue. I knew it was going to be a font issue, but didn't have the fire to keep on troubleshooting. lucida grande.ttf is the culprit. I had a different version already installed that was a confilict.
Jim, my co-worker, and I both installed Safari yesterday, too, and we had a race to see who could crash it first. He won, in under five minutes, but I wasn't far behind. My fonts looked fine.
My issue with it was that, perhaps because it's a beta, I couldn't set my default proxy settings, so the darn thing kept asking for my password over and over. And I am used to having my bookmarks visible on the left column, if I choose, and Safari didn't give me that option. It was lightening fast, however, which was impressive. But don't you think that new browsers should give you all the options you are used to, in addition to something new, rather than to force you to learn a new place for everything?
I guess they are trying too hard to emulate Microsoft by having a Beta product that they want the public to de-bug rather than getting it ready internally.
I'm watching the introduction of safari for windows as a marketing rorschach test. It's a good way to get a read on users' gut acceptance of apple in a post-ipod era. Apple's star is clearly rising. Now days, people tell me (they know "I'm a Mac") that their next computer will be a Mac or that they wish they had a Mac--that sort of thing. I haven't heard this expressed openly in the last two decades.
With the reemergence of Apple, the brand, there are many emotions computer users feel about the new brand on the block: suspicion, fear, envy, attraction, cyicism and many others) People feel about brands, it's true.
I'm not turning this analysis on you r.g. or leah, but I'll be introspective and reveal my rorschach reaction.
My take on safari draws on my mac-insecurity. As a mac user since '86, i live in an insecure place. The majority has so often looked unapprovingly at my Mac. I get irrate when apple does something that feeds into this prejudice. A long time ago, I dropped safari like a hot potato when i discovered that safari couldn't display sites "normally." I would never consider using a product that would cause people to say "no wonder you can't see that page, you're using a Mac!"
I've been "loyal" to a succession of browsers-serially. I've used IE, then firefox, lastly camino. Now it kills me to see apple unleashing an imperfect safari on the windows world, just at a time when they're saying "ok, apple, i'll give you a chance. I'm open to try you out."
Maybe I'll get over this insecurity if Mac's market share or mind share ever create an atmosphere where my OS is externally viewed as an asset. This does appear to be changing. But apple better be careful. Releasing products that show so little concern for the user is NEVER a good thing. But to do so at this time, is foolhardy.
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