Safari, Not Sagoodi
Fri 15 Jun 2007 12:19 AM

Man, I hope that pun makes sense to you...

Apple has released their Safari Web browser for Windows, and rabid Mac fanatics (you know who you are) are all walking cross-legged with excitement. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the Windows naysayers (you know who you are) to rain on their little parade. The list starts with denial of service, remote code execution, cross-site scripting and cookie stealing, but it won't end there. These were just the low-hanging fruit. Researchers haven't even begun to really dig in with sophisticated techniques. And this all happened on Day 0! What's it going to be like by Day 20?

Here's where this gets scary: Jobs is talking about using iTunes to distribute Safari. What if Apple decides that, whenever you get iTunes, you get Safari whether you want it or not? That's already true of QuickTime. Apple might use the iPod's "halo effect" to build a ready-made base of Windows Safari "users." Every time you click on a link in the iTunes store, it launches Safari. No matter what you've picked for your default browser.

I don't know about you, but I like to decide what software goes on my computer. I'm already angry enough about having QuickTime forced down my throat; having a browser I'll never, ever use stuffed up me as well just doesn't sit right. No pun intended. I always thought Apple was better than that. At least in the case of QuickTime, apparently not. We'll just have to see how egregious Apple gets with Safari.

Anyway, be careful using the Safari browser on Windows. It's clearly not very secure. And that begs the question: "How secure is it on OS X?"