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Restart to upgrade Safari, really!?

Given all the stability problems I’ve had with Safari recently I was glad Apple announced a new, more stable version today (v5.0.1).

I ran Software Update and two installs were suggested:

  • Magic Trackpad and Multi-Touch Update 1.0
  • Safari 5.0.1

I agreed to both and Software Update downloaded them, then told me it needed to restart my computer.

Really? A system restart for a web browser update and driver updates to devices I don’t use yet?

Come on Apple, this sort of thing will make you the subject of ridicule… Sigh.

I did the restart, but am annoyed. I’ve effectively switched to Firefox anyway. Wish the update did NOT require a restart, and for the rare one that actually does, wish it warned the user before starting the update (a little flag to the right saying “restart required” would be sufficient).

At least Safari 5.0.1 is dramatically more stable than Safari 5.0 on 10.6 – huge improvement in stability. Opening a dozen sites in tabs no longer reliably crashes the browser…

Update: it turns out that the “Safari” update is really a WebKit Framework update, potentially impacting dozens of applications – that makes more sense to require a restart, though now I wonder why Apple did not label it as a WebKit Framework update and indicate in the details of the download that a restart would be required.

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