Blog Highlights Image Loading Problem in Tiger Version of Safari

by , 1:45 PM EST, March 29th, 2006

Popular technology blog DrunkenBlog on Wednesday posted information about a seemingly innocuous image that crashes Safari running in Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" on both Intel and PowerPC processors. (Warning: the image is posted on the page.) It doesn't crash Camino or Firefox, however, and The Mac Observer checked it in Safari running in Mac OS X v10.3.9 and found that it didn't crash that version of the browser.

DrunkenBlog had previously posted about what he called the Safari Image of Doom, although he said that this problem isn't exactly the same as the last one. (That offending image isn't included in the post; it's on a separate page.)

"Belay the hysterics," he wrote, "but do take it seriously. I wouldn't be the least bit offended if you wet yourself after realizing what someone seriously capable could be poking around in if I'm able to blindly stumble into this stuff again and again."

DrunkenBlog added that this bug, like the previous one, is in Apple's system. "No clue as to the status/resolution," he wrote.

Reader reaction was mixed, with some upset that the presence of the image in the post, as well as on the front of the blog, was needlessly crashing Web browsers. They suggested that DrunkenBlog should have linked to the image on a separate page, as he did with the previous offending image, thus enabling readers who use Safari in Tiger to still access the post without having to launch a separate browser.

Other visitors, however, felt that any inconvenience was worthwhile if it drew attention to the problem. When an application crashes, users have the ability to file a bug report with Apple, and they believe posting the image in the blog post will result in the company receiving plenty of warnings about the problem.