Apple Safari 4 for PC

April 9th, 2009

I have just downloaded Apples Safari 4 web browser  for PC and have given it a good test run to check out the features. The shiny metallic theme has disappeared in favor of a more traditional Windows theme, which is a real shame as I liked the uncluttered interface on Safari 3.

Apple Safari 4 for PC

It’s performance has increased, Apples Safari 4 is amazingly quick, maybe quicker than Google Chrome. Safari 4 has some great new features including clearer tabbed navigation, Show all bookmarks, Show Top Sites and a new Page Zoom feature.

The shiny lights that minimize, maximize and close are probably what attracted me to Safari  for the PC  initially as well as better security than Internet Explorer. The change of style away from the sexy shiny silver will be missed but is a positive move meaning the Windows user will feel in a more familiar environment, which is just good usability.

Show all Bookmarks

apple-safari-4If you love Apples iTunes interface as much as I do your going to love the new Show All Bookmarks section, a quick overview of all your recent bookmarks in a iTunes style carousel. You can view all your RSS subscriptions in here too with a nice clean interface.

Show Top Sites

apple-safari-4-top-sitesAnother button and another new feature, maybe ripped off of Googles Chrome browser but all very nice anyway. The Top Sites collates your most popular sites you visit and displays them again in a cool iTunes Style carousel, very nice interface indeed.

Text Zoom

All the big browsers now have a zoom feature and Safari 4’s is actually quite tidy, I still hate how all these manufacturers hide the zoom functionality away in a menu and believe this functionality should have its own button, I know the shortcuts but every other normal web surfer I know, doesn’t. This may also signal the end of stretchy layouts, I already use fixed layout for my deigns unless the client states otherwise.

Report a Bug

Again for me, I don’t care, I don’t want to report a bug and it really should not be in a prime place instead of a zoom feature or something more useful for day to day web surfing.

Apple 4 Safari Conclusion

I think I’ll miss the old interface , but I’ll probably get over this and I do like the new Top Sites feature and with Mozilla’s Firefox having a continious crashing problem for me I have made Safari 4 my default browser, for now. So what you waiting for try Safari 4

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Microsoft trying to get a bite of the Apple?

February 14th, 2009

When I heard that Microsoft will be opening retail stores a-la Apple, my first reaction was, what are they going to sell in there? Windows? Zunes? Xboxes?

In a statement, Microsoft said  it hired David Porter as its corporate vice president of retail stores. The former Wal-Mart Stores executive’s first mission will be to define where and when to open the Microsoft stores.

“The purpose of opening these stores is to create deeper engagement with consumers and continue to learn firsthand about what they want and how they buy,” Microsoft said.

But in this economy, these stores will have to do more than just showcase Microsoft technologies and products; they will have to make money selling Microsoft products and even perhaps competitors!

Microsoft could be competing with existing retailers, partners

However, Microsoft’s main problem will be not to irk existing retail partners like Best Buy or Wal-Mart, and OEMs such H-P, Dell, by favouring some and leaving others out of its stores.

A  dilemma that Apple did not have as it makes both the hardware and the software (operating system and applications) for its computers; although affecting some smaller Apple retailers that eventually closed shop.

At the same time, large electronic retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Fry’s and others are still important distributors of Apple computers. And large mainstream stores such as Wal-Mart or Target are selling truck loads of iPods.

But Microsoft is no Apple!

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