Defaults are such powerful things. If Microsoft had managed to keep IE even marginally competent back in the Long Browser Winter, the window for alternative browsers on the desktop would have been much, much narrower.
It's my hunch that a lot of Mac owners never give Safari a fair chance because their time in Windows land drummed in to them the notion that only dummies use the default browser.
I use Safari daily, both to test and to visit several popular websites. My experience is that it's the first to somehow lock up with even a moderate number of windows/tabs open.
There's a lot of things to like about OS X, but these days I don't think Apple's heart is in web-related stuff.
IMO it still has the best overall look and feel. Anecdotally, I very seldom see any freezes or crashes. Perhaps having plug-ins completely disabled makes the difference.
Then why bother making Safari at all? Just rebrand Firefox or Webkit or whatever. it's not like having Safari in the mix has some massive value to the community
In my experience, Safari on Mac is the nicest browser for no reason other than Firefox and Chrome failing to nail trackpad input in the way that Apple has.
Granted I still use Firefox because I sync bookmarks to Windows, but if I could sync FF for Windows and Safari for Mac I'd switch back tomorrow. Not so keen on Safari for Windows or iCloud sync.
I've also found that it is smoother as relates to scrolling etc. Chrome will sometimes lock the screen during memory intensive stuff, Firefox will do it a little, and Safari is buttery smooth.
If they had used Safari on Windows, I am sure they would have stayed away from the Mac version because I recall the Windows one being crashy and buggy.
Ah, those days of young browsers when Firefox was called Firebird and Chrome version numbers went up by dot increments, not integer jumps. It isn't that long ago either!
