Apple caused quite a controversy over the weekend when the company made good on its promise to use iTunes as a way of pushing the Safari web browser on unsuspecting Windows users. The controversy arises from Apple’s decision to bundle the Safari web browser as a “update” for iTunes on Windows — despite the fact that Safari is a totally new, and potentially unwanted, application.
Software Update, Apple’s means of distributing iTunes updates on Windows, has previously only offered to update existing software. However, late last week that practice changed, and Apple began listing Safari for Windows as a “update,” which clearly, it is not.
Some have compared the new update behavior to the nefarious practices of malware distributors and John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla, a Safari competitor, slammed the move on his blog.
The problem is that installing Safari is the default option since the box is automatically checked. If you aren’t paying close attention to the updater — and why should you, ostensibly it’s just going to update iTunes, and Apple is (or at least was) a trusted source — you’ll end up with software you didn’t want.
Lilly explains why Mozilla feels Apple’s decision is wrong, not just for Apple, but the security of the web in general:
The problem here is that [the dialog box] lists Safari for getting an update — and has the “Install” box checked by default — even if you haven’t ever installed Safari on your PC.
…
All software makers are trying to get users to trust us on updates, and so the likely behavior here is for users to just click “Install 2 items,” which means that they’ve now installed a completely new piece of software, quite possibly completely unintentionally.
It’s wrong because it undermines the trust that we’re all trying to build with users. Because it means that an update isn’t just an update, but is maybe something more. Because it ultimately undermines the safety of users on the web by eroding that relationship. It’s a bad practice and should stop.
A chorus of vitriolic Mac fans has accused Lilly of being anti-competitive and jealous that Safari has an additional inroad on Windows, something Firefox lacks. Lilly responses to that charge in an update saying that the issue is not competition, but update behavior.
Source: Wired
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