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Mozilla chief slams Apple's Safari-iTunes move
John Lilly speaks out

By Marcus Browne

Published: Tuesday 25 March 2008

Mozilla CEO John Lilly has hit out at Apple, accusing the company of doing a disservice to Windows users everywhere by including its Safari browser as a default add-on installation in the latest iTunes update.

In a recent blog post, the head of the foundation behind the Firefox browser and Thunderbird email client attacked Apple for including the option to install the browser as a pre-selected default, saying it compromises the security of all users, and the entire web.

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Lilly said in the post: "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 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."

Lilly said: "Keeping software up to date is hard - hard for consumers to understand what patches are for, how to make sure they're up to date. It's also critically, crucially important for the security of end users and for the security of the web at large that people stay current."

While Lilly encouraged Apple's practice of releasing frequent updates, he objected to the option to install Safari coming pre-ticked, saying the "likely behaviour" for users would be to click the option to install both items - therefore abusing the implicit trust between software makers and their customers.

Andrew Walls, security research director at analyst Gartner, said: "User expectations drive the industry to provide a simpler yet richer computing experience for the customer. This user demand for magical computer experiences has forced vendors to shield the user from technological complexity, which generally forces the vendors to make decisions on the user's behalf."

Walls said the move by Apple to provide a semi-automated download of Safari as an add-on to a separate upgrade should be assessed with this in mind, as well as the ongoing context of proprietary-based PC computing.

He said: "To an increasing extent, the PC is viewed as a platform for the delivery of licensed content. The user does not own the operating system, content or applications. As a result of proprietary hardware design, the user is even restricted in the extent that they 'own' the hardware."

Lilly, however, believes Apple is affecting the way users see technology companies. He said: "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."