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Apple's New Safari Technology Preview Browser Is Aimed At Web Developers
Sarah Perez reports for TechCrunch: Apple today announced it's expanding its efforts in the area of web development, with the launch of a new version of its Safari web browser, designed specifically for developers. Called Safari Technology Preview, the company says this browser will allow developers to get an early look at upcoming web technologies in OS X and iOS, including things like the latest layout technologies, visual effects, and other developer tools. The idea is to allow developers to more easily get their hands on these technologies and be able to experiment, then offer feedback to Apple earlier on so the company can make the necessary improvements. AnandTech's Brandon Chester elaborates: It's available from Apple's developer website, and updates will come every two weeks via the Mac App Store. This makes the list of changes and additions easily accessible with each update, and because the builds are signed by Apple there's full support for iCloud integration. [...] One important thing to note about the Safari Technology Preview is that, while the app is available from Apple's developer site, you don't need to be a registered developer paying the yearly iOS and OS X publishing fee to access it. Since the target audience consists mainly of programmers building websites and web applications, it doesn't make sense to limit it to developers building native apps for iOS and OS X.
Congrats, Apple! Once again, you're last to the finish line with another browser-related spec/feature/idea. You got a lot of devs hooked on HTML5 to push your iPhone OS and its underspecced and overexposed JS/CSS features, and now you're holding the web back while trying to pretend you give a toss about it anymore.
The only browsers that exist are the ones I can install on Linux or Windows.
This has worked out amazingly well for me, as you can also install the browsers available on Linux onto Mac or BSD.
Additionally, on the off chance you can't install a browser that runs on Linux or Windows on your OS, then you can install Linux or Windows on that system and solve the issue.
As soon as Apple lets me run Safari or even OSX on my expensive hardware (superior to anything they currently sell), then I'll give a shit about their niche of a niche web browsers.