March 27th, 2008
Apple pushes Safari to unsupported operating systems
It seems that Apple just hasn’t thought through the mechanism for pushing Safari 3.1 for Windows through the Apple Software Update tool. Not only is Apple pushing this update aggressively and messed up the EULA big style, but it turns out that the browser is being pushed to unsupported operating systems.
Thanks to a tip I received from David Corley, who describes himself as a “an Irish ZDNet regular reader,” Apple is pushing Safari 3.1 for Windows to the Windows 2000 platform, despite the fact that this OS isn’t supported and also overlooking the fact that the browser won’t actually install properly on this version of Windows.
According to the Safari 3.1 for Windows download page on the Apple website, only Windows XP and Windows Vista are supported, but as the following set of images clearly demonstrate, Apple is pushing Safari 3.1 to Windows 2000 users, but the installer isn’t compatible and fails .
Even trying to manually install Safari 3.1 ends in failure.
Seems that Apple is willing to go to any lengths to push Safari 3.1, even going so far as to not take the time to properly protect users who are using incompatible operating systems from being offered the download.
[UPDATE: What's odd is that David and I are seeing different results here. For me, the installer is failing, while for David he says that the installer is working but that Safari fails to run ... hmmm. Either way, it's safe to say that Safari 3.1 and Windows 2000 don't play well together.]
[UPDATE: Hmmm ... I just left one of the systems running and the installer offered me Safari 3.1 again. Not willing to accept defeat I let it come in again, and this time it installed!
Now I'm in the same situation as David - Safari 3.1 installed, but it crashes as soon as it starts up. However, if I stop the browser from loading the Apple site into the browser I can visit a few other pages (Wikipedia front page, Example.com ... ) before the browser crashes.
I think it's safe to assume that Safari 3.1 and Windows 2000 don't play well together!]
Thoughts?
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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