My Thoughts of the Safari Browser on Windows

I'll join the bandwagon in talking about the release of the Safari browser on the Windows platform. I have to admit, when I read about it on Engadget's live coverage post I was fairly excited. I didn't rush to download it immediately because, honestly, I didn't realize it was going to be available immediately. I assumed it was going to be released in the coming month.

Late yesterday I found a link pointing to the download. Creatively enough it was at http://www.apple.com/safari/

I proceeded to download the application, which for the internet connection speed at my university seemed to take forever. I haven't really played with it very much, but it does look nice. It is hard to pin point but there is just a shiny newness to the browser. Text and images just have a polish that is not there in Firefox or IE.

I honestly haven't used Safari for much browsing. I did post a blog entry from it and the first thing I noticed is there was no built in spell check. I am completely reliant on Firefox's spell check.

Most people boil the browser market down to IE and Firefox. I actually have Opera installed as well and will use it from time to time. However, my trusty fall back has been Firefox. I really WANT to find another better browser, but I just can't find it. I think it is a result of the the add-ons that are available for Firefox. These shape my browsing habits more than anything else. I actually really like the Speed Dial feature in Opera.

One of the complaints about the Safari browser as of yet was the amount of RAM it consumes. I'd like to point out the fact Firefox isn't very small itself. Currently I have 13 tabs open (maybe a little more than average) and Firefox is consuming about 250 MB of RAM! Needless to say I am glad I have 2 GB of RAM. Apple claims that it is faster than other browsers but I haven't used it enough to judge this for myself.

I doubt I am going to move away from Firefox any time soon. It is reliable and the add-on selection is unmatched by any other browser. However, I believe that having more browser options is only good for the market and will result in a better product for the consumer.

In the end, I now have 4 options for web browsers. That is more than I had a few days ago.