A Look Back at Safari’s Decade of Browsing

Don Melton has published a little piece on how Apple’s web browser is now a decade old:

Ten years ago today, which was actually a Tuesday, Steve Jobs introduced Safari to the public at MacWorld in San Francisco.

He links to Macworld 2003 keynote address, in which Steve Jobs demos the browser for the first time.

I remember the announcement — and being stoked about it. Remember, January 2003 is years before Google Chrome, and almost two years before Firefox shipped.

It was a dark world. One in which Internet Explorer was the only real option when it came to browsing on the Mac.

Six months after the beta shipped at Macworld, Apple shipped Safari 1.0. The browser only ran on Mac OS X 10.2. When 10.3 shipped later that year, Safari was bundled with the upgrade — as the default browser.

Safari shipped in the nick of time, it turns out. On June 16, 2003, Microsoft shipped version 5.2.3, the final update for Internet Explorer on OS X. On July 11, it shipped the final version for Mac OS 8 and 9.

Version 1 was supported on 10.2 until August 2004, with 10.3 supported until January 2006.

Safari 2.0 shipped in April 2005, with Acid2 support complete by version 2.0.2. It was the only browser installed on Tiger-based Macs, but users who upgraded from previous versions of Mac OS X could still use Internet Explorer 5. When 10.4.4 shipped to customers in January 2006, Safari was updated to version 2.0.4.

On January 9, 2007, at Macworld, Apple announced MobileSafari as a core component of the iPhone. Six months later at WWDC, Steve Jobs announced Safari 3 for Mac OS X v10.5, Windows XP, and Windows Vista. The Windows version shipped as a rather rocky beta, but served as an aide to developers who were building webapps for the iPhone (remember, this is pre-App Store.) The final version of Safari 3 is 3.2.3, released on May 12, 2009. It included advanced anti-fishing resources and better support for Extended Validation Certificates.

Safari 4 boasted a new JavaScript engine, named SquirrelFish (thankfully re-named Nitro by the time of the public release). SquirrelFish was released to developers at WWDC in June 2008, with the browser entering beta on February 2009.

The Safari 4 beta made news for several new UI elements, Top Sites, Cover Flow for history and the Chome-like tabs-on-top design.

When is shipped in the late summer of 2009, the tabs were slightly less insane, and the 64-bit version ran JavaScript even faster. The Windows version got standard Windows UI controls, and the same crash protection Mac OS X users enjoyed.

At WWDC 2010, Apple released Safari 5. In addition to more UI and JavaScript enhancements, the company added Reading List, a way to save articles for later. Safari 5.0.1 enabled Extensions, a way for users to add plug-ins and other tweaks to the browser, not unlike what Firefox users had enjoyed for some time. Safari 5.1 shipped with WebKit2, a new version of the underlying rendering engine.

The current version of Safari is 6.0.2. For the browser’s sixth release, Apple waited until Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion was ready to go, even though it runs on OS X 10.7 Lion, as well. (Safari for Windows is still on version 5.)

Safari 6 has lots of Mountain Lion-only features, including the ability to share tabs between devices with iCloud, local notifications and easy sharing.

Today, Safari faces stiff competition. Chrome and Firefox both enjoy wider usage on the desktop, with Internet Explorer still holding the majority of users hostage. MobileSafari, however, is responsible for sixty percent of mobile browsing.

Without a doubt, Safari has been a major player when it comes to influencing the web over the last decade. With excellent JavaScript performance, deep CSS support and a handsome UI, it’s become the way many Mac users experience the Internet. While not as important as it once was, it still hold a special place in many people’s hearts, and I think Safari still has a bright future, especially when it comes to mobile usage.