Apple Gets Official Welcome To Windows Browser Market, Safari Vulnerabilities Exposed
from the bienvenidos! dept
Steve Jobs delivered one of his regular sermons to the Apple faithful yesterday at the company's developer conference, with the biggest news being the announcement of a version of Apple's Safari browser for Windows. While some people saw this as a really big deal, plenty more are nonplussed by the news. In any case, it didn't take security experts long to welcome Apple to the world of Windows web browsers by revealing some security vulnerabilities of Safari for Windows within a few hours of its release. Despite Apple's claims that the browser provides "worry-free web browsing on any computer", the experts say it appears that Safari relies on security protocols built in to OS X that don't exist in Windows, leaving it open to vulnerabilities. However, the open-source WebKit browser engine that Safari is built on has now released a Windows version, so there's the possibility that developers could help close some of these holes, while it's also not as if having a secure browser if a requirement for success in the Windows market (IE would seem to make that clear). Furthermore, it's likely that the factor determining Safari's success for Windows won't be security, but rather its quality when compared to users' other options.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Safari
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Beta?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Article on locked SDK
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Went on Safari
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Safari on Windows
I can't help but wonder if this is Apple dipping its toe into the water for the possibility of releasing iLife on Windows. Steve Jobs is seeming to come around to a revelation that Apple is a software company, based on his comments at D5. Hopefully that's not where things are headed - they'd be giving away the kitchen sink. I'd much rather see a version of OS X to install on any Intel computer!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
first step
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Safari on Windows
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Safari on Windows
FireFox is better and works on both OSX and Windows! As for the iPhone. Firefox should just make a lite version for the iphone since it's runs full OSX. Hey, they can even call it FlameFox!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not Gonna Happen
I saw it happen when Apple licensed Power-PC computers by third parties in the 90's. Something got lost in the translation. I have both PC's and Mac's at home. They each have their niche. Let's leave it that way. Please Mr. Jobs!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Apple makes most of it's money off of hardware, that would kill a huge junk of their business. Also they have quoted Alan Kay before, who said, "People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware." So it seems antithetical to their philosophy as a company that is serious about software.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Firefox
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Safari on Linux?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This is partly what Alan Kay was referring to in his commment about people who are serious about thier software.
I know that some Mac users prefer Safari to Firefox because it uses less memory than Fx2 does (even without any extra plugins), and so if they dual boot with Windows they might want a browser they are familiar with.
What I find irritating is that Apple do not respect the standard UI on windows with thier products, such as Safari and iTunes, whic bith use the brushed steel interface for their main window, with only some concessions to the windows UI (location of the minimise etc buttons, and the behaviour of the maximise button), rhater than either letting Windows handle the appearance or allowing user skins. (I also dislike this practice in other companies products, such as MS Office, IE7, and most versions of WMP, although in the latter case there is some justification in that it is intended to advertise Vista and fit in with that, rather than XP). Presumably the idea with using OSX themes for iTunes and Safari is to ger Windows users used to teh OSX GUI, so to overcome one of the hurldes ot changing to a mac.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Safari on Windows is a joke - so far.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Who didn't see this coming?
Unix is a fairly secure platform, but Apple has loads of flaws. So, they built their system on top of a secure platform, and it works. However, because of this, none of their software goes through the rigorous testing that is seen on other platforms. So, take pure Apple software and put it in a place that isn't already secure, and you are going to have loads of problems.
Now, just to get this on the record: EA's move to making Mac+PC games (instead of just PC games) is good for Microsoft, and in the long-term, bad for Apple. Apple is only good as long as they have full control over the environment. EA is married to DirectX, which is owned by Microsoft, thus Apples use MS libraries, thus any apple gaming actually strengthens PC/360 gaming, as they all now use DirectX, and can be ported easily (Cider, and MS's own PC360 porting tools). In fact, it is now easier to make a PC+Mac game w/ DX than with OpenGL.
Now, feel free to tell me I'm wrong. In 8 months, when I'll be right, then maybe I'll come back to laugh at you.
90/10
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Safari on Windows is a joke - so far.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Safari on Windows is a joke - so far.
Oh, a better analogy! It is like making a condom that increases your chances of getting AIDS. You see, many Mac users don't know how insecure their browser is because they aren't getting viruses. However, there is so much identity theft going on that the limiting factor of the crime is how fast they can process the stream of credit cards they get. So, Mac users haven't yet gotten the true blow of how much information their browser gives out. The only reasonable security feature they have boasted about is how it warns you before downloading an executable file. "Great! I didn't know that freemoney.exe was a program! Thankyou Safari!"
So, it may be a beta, but it is more of a failure than the usual beta, as they really have no selling point, or any announcements as to future selling points- all they have is a different browser, which stupid people will think is more secure.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Safari on Windows is a joke - so far.
"Well, sure its buggy. However, it has massive security flaws, which it shouldn't as its main selling point is its security. It would be like making a shark repellent that attracts sharks: they didn't even come close to their primary mission, which was to make a more secure browser. I mean, it doesn't even have the simplest protection."
These flaws were announced by the same shill and publicity whore, who ran around trying to show off the Apple "Wi-Fi Hack" he discovered, which turned out to be a complete fraud. These flaws may or may not exist, but either way, the messenger has no credibility at all anymore.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Safari on Windows is a joke - so far.
i'm glad you actually read about the product in question. its main selling point is speed, not security, and if you used it, it's certainly fast, at the least.
"So, it may be a beta, but it is more of a failure than the usual beta, as they really have no selling point, or any announcements as to future selling points- all they have is a different browser, which stupid people will think is more secure."
more of a failure? how so? i've beta tested various games and apps over the years and the bugs found in safari, so far, in no way constitute a failure for a beta program. oh, and their selling point is spot on. considering they're selling point is a fast and simple web browser, i'd say they're right on track to having what they promise.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Safari on Windows is a joke - so f
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Safari and JavaScript
Safari Mac seems to be incapable of running substantial, compliant JavaScripts.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]