Apple Stops Pushing Safari Via iTunes Update
Many have written about how Apple was using iTunes Update to push Safari onto PCs. It was listing Safari as an update even if Safari wasn't on the computer originally. Humorously, since then stories have emerged about IT departments having to scramble to remove Safari as the default browser on PCs as it (naturally) wouldn't work with many Intranet sites.
That practice got many people riled up, complaining that Apple was essentially deceiving people into installing a new program--Safari 3.1 for Windows XP--through a program meant to update already installed applications, namely iTunes and QuickTime.
Among those complaining was John Lilly, the CEO of Mozilla which makes the competing Firefox browser.
In a blog, Lilly said that Apple's practice was "wrong" and bad for the industry "because it undermines the trust that we're all trying to build with users."
Now, Apple's Software Update has two separate boxes, one labeled "New Software" and the other labeled "Updates." Before Safari 3.1 was under the "Updates" box and there was no "New Software" heading.
Nice, but it would be better if Apple worked on making their Safari browser "safe" (per our earlier PayPal story) rather than working on pushing it, don't you think?
That practice got many people riled up, complaining that Apple was essentially deceiving people into installing a new program--Safari 3.1 for Windows XP--through a program meant to update already installed applications, namely iTunes and QuickTime.
Among those complaining was John Lilly, the CEO of Mozilla which makes the competing Firefox browser.
In a blog, Lilly said that Apple's practice was "wrong" and bad for the industry "because it undermines the trust that we're all trying to build with users."
Now, Apple's Software Update has two separate boxes, one labeled "New Software" and the other labeled "Updates." Before Safari 3.1 was under the "Updates" box and there was no "New Software" heading.
Nice, but it would be better if Apple worked on making their Safari browser "safe" (per our earlier PayPal story) rather than working on pushing it, don't you think?
