safari going windows

Apple announced that it is releasing a version of Safari for Windows [link]. This, according to the BBC, reignites the ‘browser wars’. It has been suggested by some developers that this might be because of the impending release of the iPhone. It should be noted that like other browsers, Safari ‘earns money for Apple every time a user searches Google via the integrated search button on the browser’s toolbar’ and:

Google pays a share of ad revenue to Apple. According to one report, Firefox’s developer the Mozilla Foundation earned over $50m in search engine ad revenue in 2005, mostly from Google.

The BBC notes that

Up until now, Safari has captured just 5% of the browser market, while Microsoft’s Internet Explorer accounts for 78%, and rival Firefox 15%.

the ghost in the browser

google.gif

Google just released a study entitled The Ghost in the Browser: Analysis of web-based malware [pdf document] in which it claims that 10% of websites contain malicious malware. It conducted an “in-depth research on 4.5 million Web sites and found that about one in 10 Web pages could successfully “drive-by download” a Trojan horse virus onto a visitor’s computer. Such malicious software potentially enables hackers to access sensitive data stored on the computer or its network, or to install rogue applications.” [cnet news]

Not only that, but according to another article on cnet,

An average of 8,000 new URLs containing malicious software emerged each week during April, Cluley said, adding that the notion that such software resides only in the darker corners of the Internet is very outdated. Seventy percent of Web pages hosting rogue software are found on legitimate sites targeted by hackers, according to Sophos.