NO MORE QUICKTIME

Apple drops securitycompromised app

APPLE IS TO HALT development on QuickTime for Windows. Not only will there be no future versions, but no security patches or fixes for the existing versions either. It goes as far as issuing instructions on how to uninstall it—although, as we write, it is still available for download.

These days, there are many better options for nearly all the QuickTime formats, embedded QuickTime videos are a rarity, and iTunes isn’t bothered. It was often slow and clunky—and, to be frank, there will probably be few tears shed. However, it has been around a long time, and its links to video and sound editing are still strong.

There are a few file formats that currently only run under QuickTime, notably Apple ProRes, which is the native codec used by many modern cameras, and is widely used as an intermediate format for video editing. Adobe’s Creative Cloud team has been hard at work removing the dependency on QuickTime from its applications, but some projects are inevitably going to have to continue with QuickTime. First reports also show problems with GoPro Studio, Lightroom, Sound Forge Audio Studio 10, Cubase, MediaShout, Sony Vegas Movie Studio, and many more.

This would be less of an issue if it weren’t for the recent discovery of two serious security holes in QuickTime 7. Remote code execution is possible using heap overflows. It was deemed serious enough for the Computer Emergency Readiness Team to recommended that PC users should uninstall QuickTime immediately. So, not only is QuickTime 7 now legacy, but it has been left in a compromised state. Thankfully, there are no reports of the bugs being exploited in the wild as yet. Apple appears to have left PC users a little in the lurch—it could have patched those security holes first. Thanks, guys.