Safari and Toolbars

Now that Apple is pushing Safari for Windows, it must be listed as a legitimate competitor to Internet Explorer and Firefox in the browser wars. While it is far behind both of its competitors, for some sites (like this one) it is actually used by a majority of users. And being the only browser on the 4 million + iPhones out there, it actually accounts for quite a bit of Web surfers.
So when thinking of the differences between Safari and the other two, one thing comes to mind: installable toolbars. You know, those Yahoo! or Google toolbars that add an extra slice of buttons at the top of the browser. Or maybe you don’t know. If you are using Safari then you may not even be familiar with these. But the users of other browsers, particularly on Windows, are very familiar. Chances are they have one, or five.
These toolbars install themselves along with other downloads and services. So avoiding the main two: Yahoo! and Google is tough. Then there are the ones like Alexa, StumbleUpon, Microsoft and Complete. Then it seems like lots of entertainment Web sites and gaming sites have their own toolbars. Some software requires that you install a toolbar for it to work. I’ve seen Windows users who cannot resist a toolbar with 10 of these things stacked at the top of their browser. Button city.
What do they do? They provide quick access to searches, like that is a tough thing to do. They provide stats, sometimes, and information about the Web site you are currently browsing. Quite often they also send information back to the service to gather stats on what Web sites people are viewing.
But mostly they are junk. Unnecessary junk. That is probably why they aren’t in Safari. Apple wants Safari to stay clean and fast. By not allowing toolbars at all, they don’t have to worry about it.
I’d love to have the choice of whether or not to add toolbars to my browsing experience, but I can see Apple’s viewpoint. And since I have Firefox running as an alternative on my Mac, along with StumbleUpon and some developer-oriented toolbars, then I can live with it.