c. scott andreas

Today, Apple released a public beta of Safari 3.0. Before the pages announcing it had fully updated, I was already downloading the browser on my beloved PowerBook and the chunky Gateway laptop I use for IE testing.

I’m not sure what’s changed under the hood, but the Mac version is about 50% snappier™ than its predecessor on my system. Previously, I could hardly watch episodes of LOST using ABC’s full episode player. Now, the quality is outstanding and the CPU load light. Handy!

On the other hand, the PC version is ultra crashy. Clicking “Bookmark,” then “Cancel” took it down. Ironically, so did trying to submit a bug report! I’m excited by the idea of Safari for Windows (or more appropriately, the demise of IE - ask any web developer), but pretty unimpressed by the implementation so far.

Update:  Safari just crashed on the Mac while I was away from my desk.  Betas are betas, but they tend to be a lot more stable than this - especially when released by serious developers.

How’s your experience with the new betas?