Usually, when computer hardware and software companies point out security vulnerabilities in the products of a competitor, there's a marketing goal: appearing to be more secure than the competition. Such is aim of Apple's advertising, which makes frequent reference to the viruses that can affect Windows PCs.

But in keeping with a trend to encourage community cooperation to combat malware, Mozilla recently began advising users to update Adobe's Flash software following a Firefox security update. While one could argue this represents a subtle attempt to discredit Flash and boost the appeal of HTML 5 video, which works in Firefox 3.5 without a third-party plug-in, a more charitable interpretation is that Mozilla is providing a genuine service to the community by helping to close a major vector for malware infection.

By helping to fix vulnerabilities in third-party software, Mozilla is making online life better for everyone. That's because infected computers aren't merely a problem for their owners. Infected computers affect everyone, by becoming bots that send spam and spread viruses.

Full story: InformationWeek