When it comes to new applications, app updates, or even upgrades to new versions of macOS or iOS, do you play it safe? Or, live on the bleeding edge? Yes, you can do both. That’s what I do.
The Macs, Windows PCs, ChromeBooks and iPads I manage at a private Chicagoland school get updated. But not immediately. We have a few of each which receive the latest and greatest and we walk through a few tests to ensure the updates can be rolled out to hundreds and hundreds of users. Browsers are a different story.
Bleeding Browsers
Browsers tend to be one area of applications– Mac, iPhone and iPad, even Windows PCs– where living on the edge doesn’t cause many hiccups a long the way. Apple even makes checking out upcoming Safari versions easy with the latest Safari Technology Previews. It is Safari of the future so you may run into bugs, but the Tech Preview version also runs alongside the Safari already installed on your Mac.
This looks familiar, right?
What you get in the Preview version are the latest technologies that Apple is testing out. For example:
Get a preview of the latest advances in Safari web technologies, including HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Safari Technology Preview includes the most recent version of WebKit, the rendering engine that powers Safari
Is this living on the edge? Yes. Is a Safari Technology Preview version considered bleeding edge?
No.
Safari itself, including the Preview version, is based upon what is called WebKit, which is more platform than just a browser for surfing the web.
WebKit is the web browser engine used by Safari, Mail, App Store, and many other apps on macOS, iOS, and Linux.
If you want to really get a handle on what is coming down the road in Safari, WebKit is the place to start. And, as usual, it runs side-by-side with Safari and the Tech Preview versions. Yes, this is getting to the edge of bleeding edge.
One of my favorite browsers these days is Firefox. It has more privacy and security options than Safari or Google Chrome, plus it’s easily the fastest browser on a Mac. Again, if bleeding edge is your game, Mozilla provides both a Firefox Beta and a Developer Edition, plus a real bleeding edge option– the Nightly builds.
Google’s Chrome browser is the most used on planet earth which should tell you that most people are unconcerned about privacy. But Chrome has a Beta version, too; available for macOS, Windows, Linux, and iOS. Oddly enough, at least not on the Beta page, no Android.
For the most part, beta browsers have given me fewer problems than beta or preview versions of other applications on my Mac, iPhone, or iPad. Apple’s procedure for pushing new applications starts with a developer version, then a public preview, then a public version is released and that helps to keep new bugs to a minimum.
I do not recall the last time a beta or preview app crashed my Mac, so maybe we’re not living as much on the bleeding edge as we once were.
Orenokoto says
Friday, April 6, 2018 at 9:18 PMBack in Ye Olden Days®, I used about every Mac browser available then. Before FireFox has its current name, forgot wha’ it was. Crimean, or some such. Even iCab. But since some years ago, it’s almost Safari only, but I do keep FireFox updated and occasionally use it. I just downloaded Aloha for my iPhone 7 today, seems to be good. But it’s not made for Mac. I’ll NEVER try Chrome. Had Webkit on my 1992 MacPro, but gotten to where I hardly boot MacPro these days. I mean, whew, it’s a teenager. NO! The thing’s over 20! It can drink.
Casey says
Sunday, April 8, 2018 at 4:47 AMWhat? No mention of iCab? I used it for years. Last update was about a year ago. And it has a price tag.