Safari on Windows: A step closer to owning a Mac

by jhay on June 12, 2007

Owning a Mac has been one of my greatest dreams. I’ve been nagging my parents to get me one but it’s just too darn expensive for us. I’ve been saving up for a Mac, the closest one to current reaches of my pockets is the Mac Mini, but at present it’s still years away. Sighs…

Nowadays, the experience of having a Mac has become closer to reality all thanks to the release of Safari for the Windows-based machines. I just downloaded the beta version and this post was written in Safari. It’s a totally refreshing look, feel and experience but has whetted my craving for the Mac even more.

On my aging machine, Safari does load itself and render pages faster than Firefox. I even had a look under the hood and it consumes less memory than my default browser right now. Wonder how all this would be like on my Ubuntu machine. Nonetheless, I now have a sudden dilemma of whether switching to Safari as my default browser or stick to Firefox. The only thing that prevents me from doing so is the lack of the Google Toolbar for Safari.

safari3

A day or two of more exploring and tinkering with would help me make up my mind. Maybe it would even help get my work-flow organized. We shall see.

For now, I’m quite happy that I’m a step closer having that Mac effect. You can download the beta version of Safari for Windows here. Of course, a great hat tip to Yuga!

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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

Shari June 17, 2007 at 3:36 pm

It wouldn't run on my computer. I wonder what's wrong. Hmmm….

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Beejing June 15, 2007 at 11:51 pm

Yes! Safari does load HTML Codes faster compared to other browsers. Though there are site we can't view throught it. Take for example the New Yahoo Mail Beta! :( But generally, Safari Rocks!

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cocoy June 15, 2007 at 1:08 am

i've only tried running safari now on my imac. safari 3 is definitely an improvement over safari 2 and plan to use it for awhile. i never did like safari 2… which was why camino has become my preferred browser for the mac. (camino is a mozilla firefox-based browser for the mac).

never been much a fan of those "toolbars"… personally the search box on top of safari/firefox/camino works just fine but you know… a lot of people find those toolbars useful, so i guess that works too.

for some reason though this page doesn't render properly on safari 3 as it does on camino. the names of those who've made comments on this page are messed up.

anyway… for nancy reyes, you can get a mac and still be running your windows' app! you can dual boot to windows on any mac via a free software from apple called "bootcamp" or if you prefer no rebooting, buy a virtualization software called "parallels desktop for mac" (www.parallels.com, US$80) or another software from vmware's fusion. either software will let you run windows side-by-side with the mac but i find parallels' solution to be much more powerful at the moment. :D

how good is parallels? if the latest version of parallels for mac can let users play 3d windows games like quake 4, it should be sophisticated enough for your purposes. i use parallels all the time.

if you're into digital medical imaging there is a free mac software called "OsiriX" that lets you get images from a hospital's networked ct/mri/pet via dicom and view them on a mac.

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dave aL June 14, 2007 at 4:40 pm

And if you are wondering how that Mac emulation looks like, visit my blog http://daveal.blogspot.com... or maybe I can post it here:

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dave aL June 14, 2007 at 4:22 pm

Hi. It's my first time I commented on your blog but I've been reading your posts through FeedBlitz on my Gmail-configured Outlook.

I did a test drive for the Safari 3 Beta on my Windows XP. I kinda like it because it completes my Mac emulation that I am running for two months now. But I still prefer using Firefox 2.0 with the MacFox II Graphite theme/add-on–it still looks like it's running on a Mac!

And speaking of my Mac emulation, I love how my UI looks right now. It totally looks like an authentic Mac OSX Tiger! I am using this system files enforcer called FlyAKite OSX, that includes software like QuickDock, WinRoll, UberIcon, iColor Folder, Y'z Shadow, Y'z Toolbar.

FlyAKite OSX is a safe, complete Mac makeover pack. It tweaks registry and installs cool sounds, cursors, and visual styles that are truly Mac. Even the boot screen and the welcome sound are authentic Apple. QuickDock gives me that cool, fluid-like icon toolbar like what's at the bottom of every Mac screen. Winroll allows me to minimize/maximize windows and open folders/files with animation. UberIcon changes ALL my icons into Mac icons. iColor Folder allows me to assign colors to my file folders like what you can do on a Mac. Y'z Shadow and Y'z Toolbar transforms your scrollbar and close/restore/maximize buttons and adds shadows to your windows.

As a bonus, my Winamp is running with an iPod Nano skin.

As an alternative, there are Yahoo! Widgets you can use to add more Mac-emulating elements but they eat up much of your virtual memory. What I like about my combo right now is that it's so minimal and so smooth to use even on a 256MB PC.

Of course there is no better way to be inspired by a Mac by buying one. Hehe. :-)

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Nancy Reyes June 13, 2007 at 7:09 pm

I'd love a mac myself, but my medical software comes in windows. sigh.

However, a "headsup" about the new browser is that it has some security flaws in it. So if you are worried about that kind of stuff, watch out.

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brVinceFMS June 13, 2007 at 4:07 pm

I think I should try safari since my machine is already loaded with many programs occupying much space…. :) Nice idea J

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ade June 13, 2007 at 7:34 am

I am actually installing Safari on my PC right now as I type this. Excited much!

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jhay June 13, 2007 at 6:58 am

@ ia:

You're right. But I'm speaking from the experience with my display settings. Firefox seems to be too bright for my eyes, I only fully realized the difference when I ran Safari.

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ia June 13, 2007 at 6:47 am

Jhay, re: your comment on J's blog, I find the Safari interface a little bit too dark. Or low contrast, to be specific. Dark text on dark background? That's not very wise of Apple, I think.

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Nick June 13, 2007 at 2:11 am

Hi, the following is not technology related, but I hope you can consider it anyway…

I’m doing a writing project regarding the recent murder of Musa Dimasidsing, the district supervisor who was shot dead, he was the election official who exposed the election fraud and other anomalies in Maguindanao.

I hope you can join the the writing project and write a blog post on your reaction, I will link to your post, and I will collect the links everyday and post them up on a single blog post. This starts Wednesday up until Sunday.

You can read about the writing project on my recent post and also find out how you can join. I hope everyone can join, and let’s make our voices heard, let’s stand up for the heroism of Musa and hope that his death does not go in vain.

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jepoy June 13, 2007 at 1:59 am

i prefer to use firefox over safari on my mac… err… HP Pavilion (hackintosh) :~)

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ia June 12, 2007 at 9:05 pm

Argh. See my comment on J's post. Am I the only one having problems with Safari Win? Grrrr.

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SexyMom June 12, 2007 at 8:07 pm

i have Safari installed in my MacBook, but i do not use it. simply because when i use wordpress, i am not at home with the codes. i don't know, i have to ask angelo, maybe. or you, jhay, what do you think?

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