Margin Note: The Safari advantage, and Microsoft's lesson

Apple?s browser Safari, now in final 1.0 release form, is still a maturing product. Troubleshooting reports published over the past several days here on MacFixIt unveil a rash of site compatibility and functionality issues. But over the next few months, we should see the application evolve into the tightly OS integrated ? therefore both speedy and compliant ? browser that Microsoft is still trying to manifest in Windows.

Take, for instance, the difference in processor usage between these two browsers. While the latest release of Internet Explorer (5.2.3) running under Mac OS X 10.2.6 consistently uses between 2 and 4 percent of the processor when idling in the background (your results may vary depending on system speed), Safari 1.0 quietly rests at exactly 0.00 percent processor usage.

Granted Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit has done a wonderful job of making Internet Explorer a well behaving Carbon program (it hasn't received a major refresh in two years) the underlying message from this small example is that Cupertino knows more about building good Mac OS X applications than Redmond.

Much as Mac OS X 10.0.0 was widely criticized as being unsuitable for full time use, Safari 1.0 is not yet a fully ripe product. Microsoft has had has 5 years, and more than a half-dozen major revisions to perfect its Macintosh browser. Apple only recently exited the beta phase of its first major release.

The bottom line is that Apple is innovating on a number of fronts, and is unable to polish every major new shipping product in its initial release. But as we?ve been taught by iTunes, iChat, and the promising glimpses of Panther?s Mail.app, Preview, and the Finder, Apple?s software tend to age with grace.

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