So recently I came across this:
Apple says they are releasing a web browser with fast performance.
I tried it, and it isn't super duper fast - nor does it save that much memory, nor is it anything super special.
Mozilla Firefox is similar, but maybe no worse. Firefox is powerful, but it has extremely leaky memory (goes from 50MB to 300MB if you leave it running for a while. What is the world coming to if it takes 300MB just to browse some fricking websites?). Some people might be thinking: who cares, get with the times dude! Please leave my website now, if that is what you are thinking - because you will not like me. Taking up 350MB of memory to run an operating system emulator like VMWare, is acceptable. But a fricking web browser that parses HTML? Get real.
After a few 10MB's and 300MB's here and there, it all adds up. Next thing you know my computer will be consuming more electricity than my 1500W electric heater.
Today's computers are not getting faster - Mozilla and Opera and Internet explorer take far too long to load up, even on today's new computers. And yes I realize that I can keep the browser open and not close it.. so once it is open no more worries, right? Wrong. There are leaks.. memory leaks and I restart firefox/IE every few hours to freshen up the memory. It goes down from 300MB to about 50MB if I restart the program, even if I had no windows open when I closed it.
But computers are getting faster.
No, the same 2GHz laptops have been for sale for it seems a decade. They are adding funny stuff like dual processors which doesn't help the average user unless he can actually do two tasks at once. Dual processors are useful for servers more so than typical desktop users.
Apple: Speed is Important?
Apple is advertising as their number one major feature of safari:
- Blazing fast performance
Yo people! Hear me out:
What About The Effing Memory Consumption and the Bloatware factor?
Back when Opera tried to do this, computers were doubling in speeds almost (800mhz, 1600mhz) and Opera also cost money.
Safari has a chance, as they aren't currently charging money for it. But why would anyone use Safari if they have Mozilla Firefox? Mozilla Firefox isn't any super duper slower than Safari - and Safari seems to take up more or similar memory.
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Why in the world would a software company as big as Apple advertise a piece of software that was FAST? Hey, todays computer memory and CPU speeds are doubling! Gas and oil are getting cheaper and the 350 V8 engine is too small! Double the processor to 6400 Mhz and then 12800 Mhz next week.. to hell with developing fast software. The processors are already so fast that no longer do we need to advertise fast software, right?
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See also: Thoughts on Moores Law
Did I mention that even Niklaus Wirth himself thinks software should be leaner these days? It seems to go against every instinct of most developers since most developers are hyping meaningless bull shit, such as "Java is faster than C++".
Software developers are making the same mistakes as the 1960-1970 car manufacturers made. Make a big heavy car go fast. Do not worry about the weight or bloat of the car, OR the web browser. Hard drive space and processor power is cheap!
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