[matthewmacleod]

They did release Safari for Windows. Nobody used it, and I guess they figured the cost of upkeep wasn't worth it.

[sandis]

While it was pretty bad, I remember Safari for Windows rendering text much nicer than any Windows browser (or app) at the time - particularly, the font smoothing. I recall using Win Safari to take "marketing" screenshots of an web app.

[niutech]

I agree. Sleipnir claims to still provide this font smoothing on Windows. http://www.fenrir-inc.com/us/sleipnir/

[vardump]

What? While font shapes might have been more true to the original, Safari on Windows had very blurry font rendering, nowhere near as sharp as native.

It was very painful to read.

[MBCook]

As an end user it was pretty bad (with all the libraries they were using). It mainly seemed to exist so Windows only shops could develop/test their websites on iPhones and iPads without having to own that hardware.

As iPhones and iPads became ubiquitous (as well as the popularity of Macs with developers) that didn't seem to be enough reason to keep it going.

I don't think Apple ever intended to win the browser war, I assume it was a means to an end. Maybe I'm wrong and someone was somewhat delusional. As a Mac lover who had a strong PC at the time it was quite pokey to try to use.

[mrpippy]

Yep Safari for Windows was released at WWDC 2007 (~2 weeks before the iPhone went on sale), and I'm sure part of the rationale was for Windows developers to be able to test their web sites with it.

Also note that Google Chrome wasn't released until September 2008, so there was a year+ where Safari was the most prominent WebKit-based browser on Windows.