  The influence of the anisotropy in the equilibrium and stability of strange
stars is investigated through the numerical solution of the hydrostatic
equilibrium equation and the radial oscillation equation, both modified from
their original version to include this effect. The strange matter inside the
quark stars is described by the MIT bag model equation of state. For the
anisotropy two different kinds of local anisotropic $\sigma=p_t-p_r$ are
considered, where $p_t$ and $p_r$ are respectively the tangential and the
radial pressure: one that is null at the star's surface defined by $p_r(R)=0$,
and one that is nonnull on at the surface, namely, $\sigma_s=0$ and
$\sigma_s\neq0$. In the case $\sigma_s=0$, the maximum mass value and the zero
frequency of oscillation are found at the same central energy density,
indicating that the maximum mass marks the onset of the instability. For the
case $\sigma_s\neq0$, we show that the maximum mass point and the zero
frequency of oscillation coincide in the same central energy density value only
in a sequence of equilibrium configurations with the same value of $\sigma_s$.
Thus, the stability star regions are determined always by the condition
$dM/d\rho_c>0$ only when the tangential pressure is maintained fixed at the
star surface's $p_t(R)$. These results are also quite important to analyze the
stability of other anisotropic compact objects such as neutron stars, boson
stars and gravastars.
