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March 21, 2008 2:16 PM PDT

Mozilla CEO says Apple's Safari auto-update 'wrong'

Posted by Martin LaMonica

A lot of people appear to be bent out of shape about Apple using its auto-update service to distribute the Safari Web browser on Windows. The CEO of Mozilla, which makes the rival Firefox browser, calls it bad business.

In a blog on Friday, Mozilla CEO John Lilly criticized Apple's practice, uncovered this week, of offering iTunes and QuickTime users Safari 3.1 on Windows through the Apple Software Update pop-up.

Lilly says that automatic updates are a good way to ensure people have the most recent and secure versions of software. It's a practice that Mozilla uses with the Firefox browser.

What's different in what Apple is doing is that it is adding a product to the auto-update list that users never requested. That means they could very easily install software unintentionally, he argued:

Apple has made it incredibly easy--the default, even--for users to install ride along software that they didn't ask for, and maybe didn't want. This is wrong, and borders on malware distribution practices.

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.

Easy for users or a breach of trust?

(Credit: CNET Networks)

An Apple representative issued an e-mailed statement on the matter to Information Week: "We are using Software Update to make it easy and convenient for both Mac and Windows users to get the latest Safari update from Apple."

Meanwhile, my colleague, Tom Krazit, in a post on Friday argues that people should become more aware of the software on their systems and think before they install.

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) 119 comments (Page 1 of 6)
Bash Everyone for using this strategy then
by Tinman52 March 21, 2008 2:50 PM PDT
Apple is just doing the same thing MS did with IE7. You can't fault a strategy that works and isn't illegal. It's sneaky, but at some point consumers have to take responsibility for what they do on their computers.
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Except...
by LCMilstein March 21, 2008 2:55 PM PDT
Except that I DID download and install the Apple Updater, which I'm thrilled informs me of cool new Apple Products. Much like my Google Mobile Updater on blackberry; it tells me when new versions are available even when I didn't install the old version. I think this is good, in case I now want the new one. If Mozilla had a separate auto-updater app and I had Firefox installed, I'd expect it to tell me about the new Thunderbird, no? Perhaps a setting with the ability to opt for updates on all apps or just installed apps would make people happier?
Reply to this comment
It's not like IE7
by bobcode March 21, 2008 3:04 PM PDT
IE7 was forced. Apple lets you opt out, through it should remember you're not interested.
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should be unchecked by default
by amandachuck March 21, 2008 3:10 PM PDT
I have no issue with this other than it should be unchecked by default. At least apple gives you an option. I can't tell you all the crap RealPlayer and others force down your throat on Windows, without the option to only install parts.
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Not the same
by megazone March 21, 2008 3:41 PM PDT
IE7 is an *update* to IE. You only got IE7 if you already had an earlier version of IE installed. Firefox is the same way - MOST software is the same way. Apple is 'updating' Safari 3.1 for people who don't have Safari installed at all! It isn't an 'update' it is a new install, and that's not the same at all. They're pitching it as an update, and it isn't.
Reply to this comment
What a non-story.
by jumpjetta March 21, 2008 3:52 PM PDT
I get a thousand ads a week asking me to buy something on websites. I see this tactic as about the same, except the product is free (and probably superior to anything natively on Windows), the "ad" is visually (and sonically) unobtrusive, and the user can easily opt out. If a user is so clueless as to not pay attention to auto-update dialogs, they deserve the awful fate of having a superior browser installed on their machine.
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Mozilla DOA
by dhbruns2 March 21, 2008 4:22 PM PDT
I thought it was strange for Itunes to list Safari as an "update". But I've used it on the Mac so figured, why not? Downloaded and installed. Double-click desktop icon. Starts loading Apple Start page and BOOOOM. Browser exits without so much as a Dr. Watson. Perhaps it's not made to work on Win 2K? If not, why didn't the installer tell me that? I think I'll uncheck it next time.
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You're right, it IS common...
by gefitz March 21, 2008 4:30 PM PDT
...to see this sort of thing done. However, companies who do business this way are mostly seen as sleazy, illegitimate, gray-market (at best) and wasters of time/money. Interesting that Apple, home of "Selling an Impression", would decide to go the route of so many millions of garbage, spyware, and porn purveyors before (and after) them!
Reply to this comment
That's ok, don't worry Mozilla
by _dietrich March 21, 2008 5:10 PM PDT
Apple Safari doesn't have much of a 'reputation' as far as Windows browsers go. I myself use Linux with 'on demand' VMware WinXP and did take a look at Safari 3.1 today. It just isn't much competition for Firefox 3 (currently testing 3.0 beta 4).
Reply to this comment
Also, IE7 is actually an update
by Kelson March 21, 2008 6:20 PM PDT
...since chances are you already have IE6 on your machine if it offers you IE7. Similarly, on MacOS, Safari is always an actual update, since it comes with the OS.
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