Mozilla CEO Criticizes Apple's Safari Distribution Scheme

Apple`s release of Safari 3.1 made the browser available for Mac OS X and Windows through its Software Update control panel and as a download from its Web site. Safari comes pre-installed on Apple's Macintosh computers, making version 3.1 an update. Apple's browser isn't standard issue on Windows machines, Lily objected. According to him, Apple has thus converted a channel previously used for patching existing software into a channel for distributing new software.

"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," Lilly said. "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."

It's not yet clear whether recent market share gains on the part of Apple's Safari browser pose a threat to the usage of Mozilla's Firefox. Since the first quarter of 2006, both Safari and Firefox have gained market share, at the expense of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, according to figures from TheCounter.com and Net Applications. But Lilly's comments suggest worries about that possibility, notified Information  Week.