Security is the theme for Safari 3.2

By Stephen Withers
Friday, 14 November 2008 07:26

Development

It's a busy week for browser updates: first Firefox (which implies a corresponding Camino update can't be far away), and now Safari. What has Apple delivered in version 3.2?

Apple's WebKit-based Safari browser is retaining most of its popularity among Mac users, but it doesn't seem to be having much of an impact in the Windows market.

According to Net Applications' Market Share figures, Safari on Windows has a 0.3 percent web share, which is in the same ballpark as Firefox 1.5 and Netscape 6.0.

But Apple's pressing on, and Safari 3.2 has just been released for Leopard, Tiger and Windows.

As far as new features are concerned, all there seems to be is "protection from fraudulent phishing websites and better identification of online businesses."

Earlier this year, an internal PayPal document suggested the company should prevent customers using "unsafe" browsers - those that lack phishing protection or support for EV certificates - in conjunction with its services.

A PayPal spokesperson subsequently said the company had no intention of blocking current browsers such as Safari, only obsolete browsers running on unsupported operating systems such as Internet Explorer 4 on Windows 98.

But it is tempting to conclude that the resulting publicity played a part in Safari gaining these features, even if phishing protection did make an 'now you see it, now you don't' appearance in a previous beta release before finally arriving in version 3.2.

Perhaps of more importance are the security updates delivered in the latest incarnation of Apple's browser. Find out about them on page 2.