For me, at least, the third time was a charm. I was finally able to install Safari 3.02 on my IBM ThinkPad. Having been unable to install any of the previous betas I did not expect a stable product and I was not disappointed. The Windows beta is definitively not ready for prime time as it gets hung quite frequently and seems to still have serious memory management issues, specially when working with a large number of tabs.

Despite all its current flaws, I enjoy using Safari on my laptop at work. Unlike regular Windows users, I like the way it renders fonts and images. It makes me feel right at home. In my mind there is no doubt that other Mac users will also enjoy it.

Something is missing in the current version of Safari for Windows, though. I would really want to be able to use .Mac syncing with it. Right now this is impossible because there is no iSync for Windows, and that is fine with me. However it would be nice if Safari had a preference pane to set .Mac preferences. I have already submitted a bug report asking Apple to support this feature and I encourage all .Mac customers who agree with me to do the same. Who knows, maybe Apple will listen?

There has been a lot of speculation on the Net that the main reason for Apple to release Safari on Windows is the money they can get from Google or Yahoo by directing users to their respective search engines. While there is a lot of money to be made from this rather trivial functionality (estimations put the the annual income of the Mozilla Foundation at over US$ 70 million because of their search agreement with Google), I doubt this is the main or even one of the most important reasons Apple decided to release their browser on Windows.

It is important to understand that there are many areas where Apple stands to benefit from having their browser ported to Windows.

So far, Apple’s most successful has been iTunes. With over 500 million distributed copies, the digital jukebox application is probably one of the most popular applications ever. On Mac OS X, the iTunes store view is implemented using WebKit (the core web render engine used by Safari). On Windows, since WebKit was not available, they probably had to embed IE. That means that there are serious limitations to what Apple can do with the look and feel of their music store. By releasing Safari on Windows (and hence WebKit), iTunes can now use the same web engine on both platforms. This simplifies web development and allows Apple to use many of the advanced HTML features not available on IE. Safari 3 also offers great integration with Quicktime which will allow for better video support inside the store. Once Apple releases Safari 3 and bundles it with iTunes on Windows, they finally get a lot more design freedom that will help them differentiate from other music selling sites that have to support older browsers.

Another area where Apple should to benefit from releasing Safari 3 on Windows is their .Mac online service. Today Apple has to make sure that .Mac can be used on any web browser. Developing the online .Mac mail reader application must have been extremely complex because of substantial differences between the main browsers. Now that Apple offers Safari on Windows they could decide to drop support for other browsers. This would allow them to save money, release new services more quickly and offer an enhanced user experience. Dropping support for IE is something most Apple .Mac customers can probably live with, specially if that decision comes accompanied by new interesting services enabled by a better browser.

Finally, as many have pointed out, by increasing Safari’s market share, Apple is cornering web designers into testing their sites against that browser, which will help both iPhone and Mac sales.

This is just a short list of ideas that could explain why Apple decided to release Safari on Windows, but it certainly proves that there are many more reasons that justify porting Safari than just easy money.

On Wednesday, after another exhausting day, I went to the CocoaHeads meeting held at the San Francisco Apple Store. The theatre was totally packed to listen to a panel of independent Mac developers talking about the challenges of getting into this industry.

I think that it is fair to say that this session was extremely interesting. The insight provided by Wil Shipley of Delicious Monster (who, by the way, had just earned one day earlier an Apple Design Award for his upcoming version of Delicious library) was very valuable, as well as just plain fun. He proved that there currently is a market for innovative independent developers, although he also made clear that there are many challenges on the road to success. All in all, it was a very interesting, open and fresh discussion.

For most, the WWDC keynote was a disappointment. Few new details were unveiled about Leopard and there were no hardware announcements. I can understand that. I can even understand that someone would start selling a t-shirt that says Worst Keynote ever. What I do not agree with is that some are starting to belittle Leopard and call it a minor update. That simply is not true.From what Apple has shared with developers at WWDC it is clear that a major code cleanup is at the heart of this new OS release. After adding tons of new functionality in previous releases, that was really needed. We like to say that OS X is efficient and not bloated. A lot of work was required to maintain this assertion true. Also, computer processors have changed, they are now 64 bits and have now more cores and applications have to learn to support them. This represents a major change. If Apple had decided to focus on eye candy and had ignored this fact, OS X would have been obsolete in 18 months. Instead they focused on the fundamentals and it seems that their work is paying off.The problem, however, is that core improvements to the OS are not sexy. They are difficult to demonstrate and do not generate much positive feedback from the press. Steve made quite a good job demonstrating the value of 64 bits, however that demo did not generate nearly as much interest as the video wall demo. On the long run though, great 64 bit support for consumer applications may be one of the most important differentiators in Apple’s battle against Microsoft. Despite Steve’s problems communicating that message to consumers, Leopard is clearly one of the most important OS updates in recent history.

Just a quick note. I think that Apple was very clever to launch Safari on Windows. Although I do not expect to see people moving to a new browser in droves, I can see millions of Apple users who have to deal with Windows at work or at school switch to their favorite browser. This will immediately translate in a couple of percentage points in market share. If you add the iPhone, which will access traditional web sites using Safari, it is clear that in the next few months we will see impressive market share gains for Apple’s browser. Personally, I am betting that Safari will hit a 10% market share in December.

Although Apple makes no financial gains from Safari, the browser is a piece of software of strategic importance if they want to make sure that the Internet remains standards based. Microsoft and Adobe have recently announced strategies to develop proprietary technologies to improve user experience with web based applications. However, these technologies are a real competitive threat to other players. It is clear that Apple understands this perfectly. That is why they are attacking Microsoft on their own turf and at the same time fighting Adobe by making Flash less relevant (not supporting it on the iPhone and working with Google to switch youTube content to H.264).

I am just back in my hotel room, from the WWDC keynote. As soon as I post this update I will start installing Leopard. So far, all I can say is that I was somewhat disappointed, even though I did not have many expectations. All those stories about 3D interfaces and multi-touch screens always seemed totally fake to me. However, having attended WWDC last year, I know that Apple has been hard at work improving Cocoa in many ways. I really expected them to use those APIs in many more ways. Of course Apple mentioned 300 new features, we still have to learn about the remaining 290 so no all hope is lost.

One more thing, since most of the interesting stuff in Leopard is buried in APIs for developers, end-users will not realize the true power of the new OS until applications are written to use the new functionality. During the presentation it became evident that Steve Jobs was using an unreleased version of Keynote. Also, the fact that Leopard is able to render Excel files in Quick Look clearly points to a new spreadsheet application. It is evident that Apple is prepared to update most of it’s consumer software as soon as the new OS is updated. Apple is getting ready for a very strong shopping season.

I arrived this afternoon at SFO, just in time to pick-up my badge at Moscone Center. I am now ready to stay in line for four hours tomorrow morning in order to see Steve Job’s keynote address.

I just read a blog entry from a student who claims that they will not be able to attend the Keynote. Instead they will be re-routed to other show halls to see the event on large screens. If this is true, I strongly disagree with this decision, even though I paid four times more (of my own money) to attend. Much of the passion and energy at the event is provided by students who spend countless hours programming for fun. I would hate to see such a decision have a negative impact on student assistance next year.

The good news is that it seems that this unfortunate decision is an additional hint that points at record attendance number this year. This should be fun.

Like last year, all attendees will be under NDA. This means that I will not be able to discuss the contents of any sessions beyond the public keynote address. However, I do not expect these sessions to include much confidential material. With Leopard, only four months away, few details will remain secret after Steve Job’s keynote.

The Apple II turned 30 today. To most people this is probably totally irrelevant. To me it is an important part of my life.

I discovered computing on a TRS-80 at a local computer club. I read the manual in a single night and started almost immediately working on a game, a train simulator. However I soon became frustrated by the limitations of both the graphical capabilities of that computer as well as its BASIC language. The Apple II was in a different league, offering high-res color graphics and a built-in disassembler. It was love at first sight.

The Apple II was an expensive computer, at least for a 14 year old like me, at the time. However, I was lucky enough to have a friend at school who could import an Apple II clone (an Orange II) from Taiwan. Thanks again How-Tzer.

Armed with a single book, Nicole Bréaud-Pouliquen’s excellent 6502 assembly language reference, and some Call-A.P.P.L.E magazines, I started writing my own applications, many of which I was able to sell successfully around the world, while still in my late teens. This gave me a sense of achievement that is hard to describe. I can remember a scene that is burned deep in my memory. On my third or fourth trip to San Francisco I was finally able to rent a car (previously I was underaged) and on my way to visit the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, after signing a distribution contract for a new game that I had just started writing (LaserForce). I turned the radio on and almost instantly the song “California Girls” started playing. I felt I owned the world.

The Apple II gave me many friends (you know who you are), money and a career (surprisingly at IBM) but more importantly it gave me a passion that still burns strong inside me thirty years later. Happy birthday, Apple II.