If Steve Jobs had his way, your Apple iPhone would have the "Freedom" browser

posted by Alan F.

Dec 20, 2012, 1:35 PM

If Steve Jobs had his way, your Apple iPhone would have the "Freedom" browser

Using Safari on the original Apple iPhone; check out the carrier's name!

Don Melton was one of the original programmers who worked on Apple's browsing software, and as such, he has a number of memories that one could call "historical". One involves the naming of the browser that we all know as "Safari". According to Melton, during the course of developing the software, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was trying to come up with a name for the browser and liked "Freedom". As Melton writes in his blog, "He may have liked it because it invoked positive imagery of people being set free. And, just as possible and positive, it spoke to our own freedom from Microsoft and Internet Explorer, the company and browser we depended on at the time."

The problem with using "Freedom" is that it is also the name of a feminine product. Whether or not Jobs realized that, some of the programmers did and were hoping that the browser would get a better name. There was a placeholder name already in use, "Alexander" that was all over the code and the team was anxious to replace the placeholder with the final name. One suggestion was iBrowse.

One day, Melton ran into Kurt Knight, the Marketing product manager, who was full of excitement. "They've picked a name," he said and revealed it to be "Safari". At first, Melton was underwhelmed. "It doesn’t suck," he said. But by the time he was back in his office, the programmer liked the moniker. And this is how the browser on Apple devices, like the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad, became known as "Safari", which seems to be a pretty good name for a browser that can take you anywhere.

source: DonMelton via BGR

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19 Comments

19. pliskin1

Posts: 59; Member since: Oct 17, 2012

Would have brought a whole new meaning to the phrase "freedom isn't free".

posted on Dec 21, 2012, 2:43 AM 1

17. zazori08

Posts: 113; Member since: Dec 21, 2011

Using IE for developing. Cut the sh*t

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 11:14 PM 1

15. dan86

Posts: 298; Member since: Mar 17, 2012

Steve was a dictator.

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 9:17 PM 0

11. downphoenix

Posts: 3165; Member since: Jun 19, 2010

I kind of like the name, it kind of ties in ironically to Internet Explorer, implying that the browser is the explorer, whereas with Safari, you're the explorer and safari is the internet. So internet explorer is you? Inception!

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 3:06 PM 1

14. Bilpocalypse

Posts: 301; Member since: Oct 13, 2012

We need to go deeper... Remember Netscape Navigator. You're the explorer, netscape navigated you while on safari.

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 5:53 PM 1

9. iDroidWin

Posts: 117; Member since: Dec 07, 2012

I am a guy and I hate how people just term something as feminine and reject it. As if its bad. Sorry, but it has deep roots in society which is the cause for many evils, especially against women. I was actually read about it yesterday, sex is biologically determined, gender is socially determined. Above is a perfect example of how names/traits attributed to women are considered as bad or not "good enough".

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 2:44 PM 2

13. Bilpocalypse

Perhaps it wasn't because of the name being tied to women as much as it was tied to menstruation. Just saying. Then again, I could be way off.

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 5:51 PM 4

6. rusticguy

Posts: 2828; Member since: Aug 11, 2012

"Suffer" eeee should have been the name instead :)

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 2:20 PM 8

7. ultimatebatman

Posts: 52; Member since: Dec 04, 2012

I needed to read it out loud to get it lol.

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 2:30 PM 6

5. Aeires unregistered

And then named their tablet the iPad.

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 2:19 PM 6

4. Droiddoes unregistered

Safari has got to be the biggest piece of sh*T browser I have ever seen.

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 2:15 PM 10

2. ultimatebatman

The problem with using "Freedom" is that iOS is actually a prison full of idiots.

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 1:48 PM 20

3. NexusKoolaid

Posts: 493; Member since: Oct 24, 2011

And their devices are built in factories that are prisons full of conscripts.

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 2:02 PM 11

10. Cynipap999

Posts: 138; Member since: Nov 15, 2012

iRony is the name of Apple's game. Personally, they should have stuck with the name "Freedom" and kept it in line with feminine products, especially by adding a special pull string to launch or close it.

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 2:57 PM 7

1. androidisbaws

Posts: 74; Member since: Dec 17, 2012

Ironic, considering the company.

posted on Dec 20, 2012, 1:39 PM 21

8. Zero0

Posts: 592; Member since: Jul 05, 2012

That was my initial thought, but then I kept thinking, and Safari is partially open-sourced as WebKit. It's the foundation for the Chromium browser, which is legitimately free. Apple is incredibly restrictive, but Safari is an exception.