Forced Safari ACK!

Apparently if you get the update for Itunes \ Quicktime safari may be pushed to you on you Win PC! ... What a way to push a browser to a market. Although it's funny I was at work today and my friend said his IE wasn't working right and safari showed up a few nights ago and he said all pages load well for him on that browser so he's a switcher.

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/21/is-apple-pushing-safari-3-1-on-windows-users/

 

Haha. How amusing. That's why I don't use Apple stuff.

 

I definitely do not support this. Safari on Windows isn't that great, I don't use it on my Windows PC, and while it may introduce more iTunes users that Safari for Windows exists, I think the real customers they are trying to target will be turned off by this.

 

Ok, so I do have QuickTime installed, and I install/uninstall iTunes occasionally, but I have Apple updating nixed and I uninstall that Bonjour nonsense.

 

Actually, I just downloaded the 3.1 final today for my Windows Vista computer and it's actually REALLY fast.

 

yeah it's all I use, just surprised at apples sneaky tactics to increase there market share of the app

 

That's why I uninstall Apple Software Update, Bonjour, iPhone/AppleTV support, and Quicktime after each iTunes update.

 

how is this sneaky when you look at companies like microsoft, anything you download for free from microsoft tends to include tons of random things that need to be unchecked before install.

Safari for windows is just as capable as any other browser out there.

you aren't forced to install any of these things, don't kid yourself.

 

And those would be

 

Oh Sam, this is the first time I am a bit surprised at your response to this. Mac users are getting tired of visiting I.E. Only websites and some Windows users can't use Firefox either since Active X controls rule certain websites. Apple needs to aggressively market Safari otherwise we will live in an I.E. world forever. This is actually a good thing.

 

Well, I don't condone Apple wanting Safari to increase market share, but I don't support Apple forcing Safari along with an iTunes install.

I would accept something like "Would you also like to install the Safari web browser?" during an iTunes download, but I don't support them not allowing you to choose whether or not you want Safari. Its not a big deal, you can just leave Safari there and never use it, but I'd rather not have it forced upon when installing iTunes in the first place.

 

I.E. is not that great of a browser, but it's improved, and although it should be done away with, it's so integrated into Windows, that's just not gonna happen. So we're all sad.

 

Now, I didn't see this. I downloaded iTunes for Windows via VmWare and all it shipped with was Quicktime, Safari was not packaged with it. When I went to Software Update for Windows Safari popped up there. I think it's quite harmless for it to be in Software update.
I think it only appears in Software update if you have iTunes installed already.

 

I found that Safari was crashing a lot on my windows box so when I switched entirely over to mac, I took the precaution of installing Firefox on day one. I'm still using FF primarily but I leave Safari set as the default. I'm not prepared to let go of FF now that I've discovered google browser sync.

I'll stop short of saying Safari doesn't belong on windows, but it wasn't all that stable the last time I tried it. I don't think I'd want to use any browser on windows that didn't include noscript and adblock. It's less critical on mac but there are adblock-like addons for Safari on OS X. To be really useful on windows, these addons need to be ported to windows along with Safari. Simply blocking popups without the ability to block ads, especially flash ads is not enough to suit my needs.

As for sneaking and installing an app without the user's permission, it's a no-no. Just because windows is a sieve doesn't mean you are obligated to breach it. Apple designed OS X to be resistant to this kind of crap so (if this is indeed what Apple is doing) why are they themselves doing it to their customers on windows?

 

r0k, there's stuff like Pithhelmet if you want to block ads (not just pop-ups).

 

Okay, so I started up my PC today and noticed a download notification from Apple.

For Safari 3.1

However, it is NOT being forced. I got my other updates without having to install Safari. No where did I see that they make you do it.

However, they do make you get iTunes if you d/l quicktime

 

I've got to say, I've have an older installer for iTunes, and I have it set so it doesn't keep trying to update, and it doesn't bug me about Safari. Props to Apple for that kind allowance.

 

This pissed me off a bit, frankly. On my XP partition, the Apple Software Update dialog box opened up and told me it wanted to get Safari 3.1 - even though I didn't have that installed on my computer. I'm not a fan of any company pushing products on you, and I thought Apple would be above this. I do think Safari is a pretty capable browser, and use it some in Leopard, but I'm happy with Firefox 3.0b4 and don't want to have Safari on XP, and don't appreciate Apple trying to sneak it in.

 

You have such a sick avatar, niemassacre!

 

Fear Super Squirrel, for he shall have no mercy.

 

To be fair they are NOT pushing it on you. Simple has the download option on the updater, which can be unchecked. The problem would be if you could get no more updates without installing it.

They're not really sneaking it in... It's not spyware

 

"Pushing" might have been the wrong word, but they're still putting a NEW product on the "update software" list - I would've hoped that they wouldn't use their updater system as a way to introduce users to new products. You're right, you don't HAVE to install Safari, and it's not difficult to not do it, but, considering how I don't like pop-ups as it is, I was annoyed by a software update pop-up that wasn't even for a product I was using...