The Problem with Safari 4 Beta: It Just Kinda Sucks

I'm a simple man.

I like a good cup of coffee in the morning, mellow get-togethers with close friends and web browsers that do the one thing they were meant to do - browse the web. Problem is: Safari 4 beta doesn't come close to living up to its advertised awesomeness. Even worse, it kinda sucks ass.

Now look: I'm not a guy in a lab coat and stop watch. I don't have "metrics" or "benchmarks" or "a degree in measuring shit". I'm just a guy who manages a network of 250 Macs and works on at least four different Macs at any given time. So frankly, I think my own experiences are pretty valid. And in EVERY case, on every computer, Safari 4 starts off really fast but then - after a week or so - it breaks down, wears out and slows down to a crawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwl.

And you know what? It seems I'm not alone in discovering this. Not by a long shot.

What can I tell you? I'm a fan of Apple but they produce the occasional turd every now and again. Repeatedly, actually. But hey: every company does. Except for Pixar... but they're a freak of nature. Seriously.

Despite my disappointments with Safari 4 Beta, I acknowledge a simple truth: there's no single browser that's so full of awesomeness that I'll stop using all other browsers. Frankly, I hope that will always be the case. If everyone used the same browser, innovation would stop, competition would falter and we'd all be much worse off than we are right now. Worse, we'd all be using some shitty version of Internet Explorer. Ugh. Kinda makes me shiver.

In the meantime, I'm running Firefox 3.0.11 and enjoying the speed. It's really nice and I'm enjoying the add-ons, especially for delicious, multiple GMail signatures and the ridiculous. I wonder if there's an add-on to thrown darts at Karl Rove...?

Hmm....

So Apple missed the mark with this beta version of Safari. That's OK, it's a beta for crying out loud (just like GMail)