For those who run Linux or for any other reason were blissfully unaware, iTunes is Apple’s media library management tool and is the only official way to maintain content on the popular iPod family of portable music and video players.

Many, many Windows users have iTunes installed primarily to feed their iPods. Others like the way it helps them file and tag all their music even if they do not use an iPod but instead play the music from their desktop or via a different device.

Much like Windows computers can use the “Windows Update” service to receive patches, and like MacOS computers have “Software Update”, so too the iTunes (plus QuickTime) package installs Apple Software Update to keep users informed of new patches or versions combined with the ability to quickly download and install these.

Yet, late last week Apple surprised many when the Apple Software Updater offered a new download which was not, in fact, an update of an existing package. It was the Safari web browser, and its checkbox was pre-ticked. Downloading and installing Safari was a single mouse-click away (whereas to not download was two mouse clicks, and to suppress the item from ever being offered again took several more.)

An online war has since ensued, with a great deal of fear, uncertainty and doubt mixed with a large dose of ideology. My colleague Alex Zaharov-Reutt wrote on this site that it was sneaky, it was surprising, and that he expected better from Apple. His views are not unique; many other bloggers have expressed the same opinion.

Some of the complaints found online went further than merely saying that the principle was wrong; allegations were made that the Apple Software Updater not only installed Safari but actually made it your default web browser in an underhanded fashion. I’ll tell you for sure if this is true or not momentarily.

The defense by Macophiles and Apploclastics has been largely of the form, “Big deal, just untick the box and there’s no harm” or “Well, it is an upgrade anyway; you’re upgrading from that big horrible Internet Explorer to a much greater browser. Safari FTW!” or “So what? Sony and Microsoft and Adobe and Sun and Real Networks do this all the time.” or even the highly-reasoned “You obviously hate Apple.”

Let’s break it down. I would like to tell you why it is wrong, and why this wouldn’t happen in the open source world. If Microsoft are, as some would tell you, “the evil empire” while Apple was beloved perhaps the tide has turned such that Apple is the new Microsoft and open source is the new harbringer of light.

Please read on to see what happens when you install the software.

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