“Tsk…tsk…tsk”, should have been the header of John Lilly’s blog last friday when he criticized Apple for its’ latest iTunes update. Software updates can be a real hassle in this fast paced, “I want to get things done at this very second” world we live in. I’d venture to say that most of you don’t even read what’s in your software updates (me included).

For those of you who didn’t know, Mozilla is the company that is behind the popular, and beloved by all Firefox browser. The CEO of Mozilla, John Lilly has updated his blog about certain practices that Apple has implemented in their newest iTunes update for Windows XP users.

So what could be inside an iTunes software update that could have Lilly all flustered? Well it’s really nothing to do with iTunes, but it’s the fact that Apple decided to bundle its’ Safari web browser in with the update. So should Apple be putting software installs inside updates for other software that you might have on your computer?

According to Lilly the answer is, no. Here is an excerpt from Lilly’s blog, “What Apple is doing now with their Apple Software Update on Windows is wrong. It undermines the trust relationship great companies have with their customers, and that’s bad — not just for Apple, but for the security of the whole Web. What they did yesterday was to use their updater for iTunes to also install their Safari Web browser –what follows is some background and analysis.”

So is this Safari bundled iTunes update a much ado about nothing or is Lilly right in saying it violates the trust between company and consumer? I believe it’s alittle bit of both. What I think we should learn from this, is how much more we need to be aware of what we’re putting on our computers. We need to stop just hitting the “enter” button so we can get to the applications we want to use faster. Was it kind of shifty of Apple to bundle Safari with the iTunes update? Yes, it was definitely pretty shift. I really don’t want unneeded software to be put on my computer when all I want is my iTunes to work better. But I don’t blame Apple for the decision, it will more than likely lead to more Safari usage on Windows.

What do you all think of the Safari bundled iTunes update? Feel free to leave your comments below

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