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Why does everyone always forget about Safari in these discussions? Safari has a respectable marketshare on mobile / tablets. Not as good on desktop but it’s not

by vimy 5y ago

Why does everyone always forget about Safari in these discussions? Safari has a respectable marketshare on mobile / tablets. Not as good on desktop but it’s not a lost cause.

Miner49er 5y ago
Probably because you can only use Safari on Apple products.
dralley 5y ago
"Apple" and "open" don't belong in the same sentence.
selfhoster11 5y ago
It's not a relevant browser. The last time I have seen Safari installed on a Windows machine was likely 2013-14, if not earlier. It doesn't have an Android version (which makes it less relevant on smartphones). It doesn't support Linux, which lots of the power user/tech trailblazer crowd is using. It's not open source, unlike Firefox or Chromium. It lags in features (which to be fair, isn't bad when they impact privacy). I don't think there's a good case to be made for Safari outside of Apple devices.
- wila 5y ago
  That's because there hasn't been a Safari for Windows in over a decade :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safari_(web_browser) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safari_(web_browser)
- vimy 5y ago
  Those things don't matter. Just by existing Safari is making sure web developers can't solely focus on Chromium. If we disregard mobile, Safari still has more marketshare on desktop than Firefox. > Apple's offering, Safari, currently holds 18.34% of the internet browser market, with an estimated 844 million people using it in 2021. Safari also makes up 23.78% of all mobile device browsers worldwide, which is high considering Apple holds 26.35% of the mobile vendor market. https://backlinko.com/browser-market-share https://backlinko.com/browser-market-share Those numbers seem relevant to me.
- troyvit 5y ago
  A lot of people use it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#Installed_base https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#Installed_base I mean nobody super exciting, but Steam uses it for their software, Adobe CSS uses some of it, etc. It's more than an Apple thing. [Edit]: Sorry, nobody outside Apple uses Safari, but a lot of people outside of Apple use WebKit, Safari's engine.
  - account42 5y ago
    Steam uses CEF aka *Chromium* Embedded Framework. If the current version is still WebKit then its only because they haven't updated to Blink yet. It is also primarily there to render Steam and steampowered.com so not very relevant to keeping web standards in check.
- xemdetia 5y ago
  I think the other thing that makes it less relevant is that Safari is using WebKit and at this point its just a WebKit derivative. Part of the value that Firefox provides for better or worse is alternate components that force things to actually try and meet standards.
yucky 5y ago
I've never seen Safari on an Android or Windows device. I would imagine this is on the list of things that is technically possible, but not a real world use case. So that's why.

by vimy 5y ago

Why does everyone always forget about Safari in these discussions? Safari has a respectable marketshare on mobile / tablets. Not as good on desktop but it’s not a lost cause.

Miner49er 5y ago

Probably because you can only use Safari on Apple products.

dralley 5y ago

"Apple" and "open" don't belong in the same sentence.

selfhoster11 5y ago

It's not a relevant browser. The last time I have seen Safari installed on a Windows machine was likely 2013-14, if not earlier. It doesn't have an Android version (which makes it less relevant on smartphones). It doesn't support Linux, which lots of the power user/tech trailblazer crowd is using. It's not open source, unlike Firefox or Chromium. It lags in features (which to be fair, isn't bad when they impact privacy). I don't think there's a good case to be made for Safari outside of Apple devices.

wila 5y ago
That's because there hasn't been a Safari for Windows in over a decade :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safari_(web_browser) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safari_(web_browser)
vimy 5y ago
Those things don't matter. Just by existing Safari is making sure web developers can't solely focus on Chromium. If we disregard mobile, Safari still has more marketshare on desktop than Firefox. > Apple's offering, Safari, currently holds 18.34% of the internet browser market, with an estimated 844 million people using it in 2021. Safari also makes up 23.78% of all mobile device browsers worldwide, which is high considering Apple holds 26.35% of the mobile vendor market. https://backlinko.com/browser-market-share https://backlinko.com/browser-market-share Those numbers seem relevant to me.
troyvit 5y ago
A lot of people use it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#Installed_base https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#Installed_base I mean nobody super exciting, but Steam uses it for their software, Adobe CSS uses some of it, etc. It's more than an Apple thing. [Edit]: Sorry, nobody outside Apple uses Safari, but a lot of people outside of Apple use WebKit, Safari's engine.
- account42 5y ago
  Steam uses CEF aka *Chromium* Embedded Framework. If the current version is still WebKit then its only because they haven't updated to Blink yet. It is also primarily there to render Steam and steampowered.com so not very relevant to keeping web standards in check.
xemdetia 5y ago
I think the other thing that makes it less relevant is that Safari is using WebKit and at this point its just a WebKit derivative. Part of the value that Firefox provides for better or worse is alternate components that force things to actually try and meet standards.

yucky 5y ago

I've never seen Safari on an Android or Windows device. I would imagine this is on the list of things that is technically possible, but not a real world use case. So that's why.