Comments on: Mozilla CEO: Safari = Malware?

By: Paul Roe

Paul Roe — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:04:35 +0000

Apple is cuthroat, hermetically sealed and ruthless, to its employees and to competitors, but I expect this type of maneuver from Microsoft.

But, I think with the iPhone, iMac, iTunes, MacBook Air, and iPod so prevalent, Apple must be strategizing on how to convert all this massive, respected branding into much greater actual influence on the PC market, the internet and culture and IT in general.

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:52:20 +0000

Yeah it always bothered me that they try and sneak in iTunes with my Quicktime updates. I always have to pay attention and uncheck that damn box. Why must companies pull stupid crap like this? If I wanted your iTunes or your Safari or anything else, I’d download it myself! Don’t push it on me.

Yahoo is another popular culprit, always trying to install search bars and such.

By: BrianC

BrianC — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:37:56 +0000

So I have made the mistake to do what I thought was an updater for bug fixes. How do I uninstall Safari?

By: msatlas

msatlas — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:28:02 +0000

I disabled Apple Updater after it kept nagging me to install Quicktime + iTunes as an “update” to the latest version of the standalone Quicktime player. The only thing I use Quicktime for is the occasional web page with an embedded video or qtvr. I don’t have an iPod and I don’t want iTunes. All I want to be notified of is an update to the exact program I installed, not nagged to install a new program I specifically avoided installing in the first place.

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:19:32 +0000

Exactly why I stopped using Quick Time a year ago, try updating it without iTunes. Now they want to install Safari too, well they are on their way to joining the government in giving us things we do not need or want!

By: Galvatron

Galvatron — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:01:03 +0000

give it time tat’s why i hate grapple no choice an not al cabl companies control what you see cox dosn’t just comcast

By: gadgetchic

gadgetchic — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:36:49 +0000

this made me realize… i would be really pissed if itunes just automatically updated my jailbroken iphone…

By: Mr Hopkins

Mr Hopkins — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:13:02 +0000

Those dirty rotten scoundrels…it’s all coming together man…first cable companies are controlling what u see in your browser, now Apple is controlling what browser u use…next thing u know the goverment are just puppets with big businesses pulling the strings….oh wait, too late.

By: Galvatron

Galvatron — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 07:00:11 +0000

ibeen teeling you guys forever apple thinks fanboys are sheep drinking koolaide laced with arsnic.

By: mr.gadget

mr.gadget — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 05:05:56 +0000

I saw the the update last night and was like… safari for windows I didn’t even think twice I just hit the install button now I have to be even more carefull with situations like this.

By: secretasianman

secretasianman — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:49:12 +0000

This is for notanapplehonk:

It’s Mac… not MAC folks!!

By: thefencechild

thefencechild — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 02:57:36 +0000

well the quote says malware practices, he doesn’t say the program was malware. also, this is just one of the many reasons apple can bite a big one in my opinion. they try so hard trying to convince people they’re better then microsoft in every way, that since the masses aren’t listening they’re just trying to sneak it past people. knowing them they’d probably follow with a commercial stating the % of pcs that now have safari installed. laughable

By: dario

dario — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 01:24:54 +0000

It is malware when a company as big as Apple does some stunt link this. They know most people will keep clicking away until they are finished.

Everything should be up front. Otherwise Apple is just as guilty as those distributing malware or worse – just as bad as Microsoft for questionable business practices. Heaven forbid that Apple ever does anything questionable. But I guess when they do there is good reason.

By: Joel

Joel — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 00:13:53 +0000

“Hey at least they’re not bundling it with iTunes… yet.”

Shhhhhhhh…. dont give them any ideas!

By: ppcmd

ppcmd — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:44:50 +0000

Since I use a MAC (with windows on it) I didn’t get hit with this BS update. But when Apples does updates on the MAC OS side they don’t even tell you what the update is fixing. I mean MS tells you what its fixing, and Apple doesn’t.

By: TheCrow

TheCrow — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:24:10 +0000

Dennis, it’s people like you who will allow this to become commonplace.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:13:31 +0000

Is there any way the installer can be disabled? The only Apple software I use (and will ever use) is quicktime…although it constantly bugs me to download iTunes (memory hog, bad sorting, overall crappy player…foobar2000 is much better) and now this shit with safari.

See, this has been going on much longer than just recently with Safari, this has been going on with everyone who uses quicktime but refuses to downgrade (*ahem* switch) to iTunes

By: james

james — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:36:46 +0000

Shut up Galvatron. You make no sense. Go away.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:58:40 +0000

Hmm… isn’t it a bit overboard in saying this is malware? Malware, the last I checked, doesn’t give you a chance to decline it. Maybe Apple needs to tweak their Update software to make it clear that some things are updates and others are other software packages that they also offer — but saying it’s malware is bordering on stupidity.

I would be willing to bet that if John Lily had a chance to somehow reach out to millions of Windows users and advertise an easy way to install Firefox he would take it. You just don’t get very many opportunities to reach users directly if you are not Microsoft. And Apple, very wisely IMO, is taking advantage of the fact that they have a large installed base of iTunes users and using that to offer other packages they have.

As for why Quicktime and iTunes are bundled, it’s very simple — iTunes was built on top of Quicktime. Apple had two choices — they could rip out all of the code that uses Quicktime in iTunes and replace it with an internal layer that did the same thing. Or they could bundle Quicktime with it and avoid making a real mess. I think they made the right choice.

By: William

William — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:03:56 +0000

I noticed this when I updated iTunes the week. At first I thought it was a glitch, but now I’m glad I refused the download. If Apple starts pushing Safari with iTunes I’ll simply stop using iTunes. I’ve been pretty happy with Firefox and see no reason to switch.

By: The Doctor

The Doctor — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:56:00 +0000

I was already getting a bit suspect of Apple following the iPod touch upgrade. I had to click “No, Thanks” for a month before it stopped asking me to upgrade everytime I plugged in. So now we’ve got another data point – indicates a trend to me…

By: Brian T.

Brian T. — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:48:29 +0000

I have, until now trusted Apple’s upgrade engine. But this time is different.
It said I was getting iTunes and Quicktime updates.
I do not have Safari.
I got Safari installed. It didn’t even show up on XP as “New Program Added”. Clever. Yet crooked.
What else can you call deception when in fact it is deception?
No more automatic installs for Apple.
Whose stupidity thought this stealth install would not be noticed?
Think of a lunatic botherder . . .

By: Galvatron

Galvatron — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:43:42 +0000

the yon’a apoligize thy ill play fedgove an try to explain it away. just as they won’t tell you they keeep trak ofiphones that have been modeed or jailboken by esn and imei sent from the calendr and mail aplications.

By: Jeff B.

Jeff B. — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:39:25 +0000

Ya know that happened to me too and people wonder why all I use is iTunes and Quicktime.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:32:10 +0000

I always look very carefully @ updates and the details so as not to inadvertently install some crap I don’t want or need.

With the Apple updates I never even look twice, I just hit install. They have never given me any reason to not trust them.

Needless to say I was rather ticked when I saw the Safari icon in my quick launch bar. If I want Safari (which I don’t) I will install Safari.

John Lilly is 100% bang on – this was poor form by Apple. This is malware plain and simple. It must have been some sort of mistake, at least I hope it was – and they apologize for it publicly.

By: Ty

Ty — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:13:32 +0000

Yeah, I saw that the updater tried to put it on my computer a couple yesterday. I was surprised to see it. John Lilly was right.

By: SteveNYC

SteveNYC — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:46:12 +0000

Whenever I see articles like this, I always laugh at the people who look at Apple as this “Knight in Shining Armor”. That Apple is somehow better than their nemesis, Microsoft. These are companies with a profit motive, pure and simple. There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between them in their motivations. It’s just that each is more successful than the other from time to time in certain categories…