Stan's List

Today, Month of Kernal Bugs has published information relating to how .dmg (ie disc image) files are handled:

Mac OS X fails to properly handle corrupted UDTO HFS+ image structures (ex. bad sectors), leading to an exploitable denial of service condition. Although it hasn’t been checked further, memory corruption is present under certain conditions (in this particular case, unlikely to allow arbitrary code execution). More …

Safari automatically opens dmg files, by default. This can be prevented by changing the Preferences and deactivating the functionality for ‘opening “safe” files after downloading’.

In an article entitled “Mistakes Made On The Road To Innovation,” BusinessWeek online cites Apple as the example of how to not to make them.

Apple Computer (AAPL ) shows how it’s done. Here’s a company that was trapped in an ever-dwindling niche of the PC business. Then came the iPod, a must-have device for music fans, and iTunes, an online music shop that turned music downloading into a profit-making business. By making iPod and iTunes work with Windows PCs, Apple broke out of selling only to its niche of loyal fans. But its transformation is even more profound than that: In essence, it switched from being a great designer of computer products into a great designer of consumer experiences delivered via devices and services. Now music represents 44% of Apple’s revenues, and an even larger share of profits. More …