A Windows user rocking Apple's Safari Web browser is the unicorn of computer setups, and it appears as if Apple might have mowed down the magical forest.

According to a published report, Apple appears to have mostly scrubbed its site of any download links to the Windows version of Safari – perfectly timed for today's release of Safari 6.

Safari for Windows might be sitting in a coffin, but Apple has yet to pound in the final nail; Windows users can still grab Safari for Windows version 5.1.7 after a little bit of hunting around Apple's support pages.

Yes, that's the version of Safari that shipped with OS X 10.7.4 this past May.

But good luck trying to find any kind of reference to the existence of Safari for Windows on anything but Apple's support pages.

Speculation as to why Apple's nixed the references includes the possibility that Apple's just no longer interested in devoting resources to a Windows port of its big OS X browser.

Additionally, since Safari 6 is more tied into the OS X operating system (as a result of features like its Password Pane and Offline Reading List), it makes logical sense that Apple chose this moment to start its grand Windows purge.

There's also the question of market share – specifically, Safari currently ranks fourth among the "Big Four" browsers for worldwide use.

With but 4.7 percent of worldwide users surfing on Safari, according to statistics from NetMarketShare, it stands to reason that a high percentage of this chunk comes from users tapping into Safari as a result of it being the default browser within OS X.

Or, as Forbes' Adrian Kingsley-Hughes puts it:

"While I find Safari to be an adequate browser for the Mac OS X platform, when it comes to Windows I'd put it behind Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera and even Microsoft's Internet Explorer. In fact, the only time I even fire it up on Windows is when I'm testing something," he writes.

With such ringing endorsements – and likely low user counts – Apple dropping Safari for Windows seems more like an expectation than a surprise.

However, Apple is still supporting Webkit development for Windows – and, in fact, continuing to release nightly builds of the open-source framework – which has led some to think that Safari for Windows is merely delayed, not extinguished for good.

While Apple hasn't officially confirmed that Windows-based Safari is dead, it's not as if the company has taken to the airwaves to offer up an explanation as to where it's gone, either.

In other words, Windows Safari fans shouldn't hold their collective breath.

All five of you.

Via TechCrunch

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Windows Phone 8 will get more consumer-friendly in September

Microsoft will reportedly unveil new consumer features for Windows Phone 8 at the Nokia World summit this September.

According to a Chinese Windows Phone site, Nokia's summit in Finland will be home to a rundown of consumer-focused features for the new OS.

While Microsoft provided a system overview of Windows Phone 8 during its Windows Phone summit last month, the preview was more geared toward developers by highlighting support of multi-core processors, multitasking, and NFC support.

The consumer side of what to expect from Windows Phone 8 software has been more quiet, delving into the new start screen and interface yet leaving many questions still unanswered.

Of course, being a Nokia event, the main attraction will be the company's own smartphones, and at least two Windows Phone 8 devices are expected to announce at the Nokia World summit.

Code names for Nokia handsets are circling the web lately, including the Lumia 910, Lumia 920, Lumia 950, and Lumia 1001, as well as the Nokia 510 and Belle 805, thanks to a leak through a developer tool.

Nokia is already a close partner with Microsoft on Windows Phone 8 making Nokia's event an opportune time to announce new details on the OS's consumer features.

Nokia World 2012 will kick off in Helsinki, Finland on September 5.

Via WPDang

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