Major Apple Security Updates - Includes Safari

I often jump around when reading new blog posts and tonight was no exception. However, I think that the order that I happened to jump tonight is interesting. To begin, I always enjoy reading Ed Bott's posts, whether they are at Ed Bott's Windows Expertise or Ed Bott's Microsoft Report so will frequently start read any new posts by Ed.

After reading Another predictable round of Vista-bashing, I just happened to click on Ryan Naraine's writeup at ZD Net, Apple Patch Day: Gaping Mac OS X, Safari holes in which he reported:

"Apple has released four different bulletins to cover 48 documented vulnerabilities in the Mac OS X ecosystem, a solitary code execution flaw affecting Safari for Windows and four different security problems in Java for Mac OS X.

Security Update 2009-001 is quite a whopper, providing patches for holes in a wide range of components, including several open-source implementations like ClamAV and fetchmail."

Well now, 48 Apple software updates! On my Windows Vista machine I quickly counted about 1/4 the number of updates to date and that included Windows Media Center, the Junk Email Filters and the Malicious Software Removal Tool. Is it no wonder I went back to Ed's post and chuckled about this quote and the reference to "consumers":

"Of the most famous computer makers, only two, Apple and Sony, primarily aim their products at consumers."

I have a security-minded "consumer" friend who thought she was going to have a better quality of life with an Apple computer. She has commented many times about the pain of trying to get all of the Apple updates on her dial-up connection. So much for the consumer.

The list of Apple product updates is available at About the security content of Security Update 2009-001.


References:

• About the security content of Security Update 2009-001
• Another predictable round of Vista-bashing
• Apple Patch Day: Gaping Mac OS X, Safari holes
• Sony’s Vaio P Has Sportscar Looks Without the Power

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...