maybe apple should just rename the itunes / quicktime download to apple software suite for windows or something, then we wouldnt have to think up an explanation for it. They shouldnt complain....its a cold glass of water to those in hell isnt it? ;)

This isn't forcing anything on anyone but still this just seems like it goes against what I thought apple was all about. They should start thinking like google... Don't be evil.... This is a slippery slop and they should stop while the can.

I think they should brutforce safari on win users and override ie.

Do no evil? Wow! I can't tell you the number of times I have downloaded something and had to manually cancel an auto download of the Google toolbar. Personally, I see absolutely nothing wrong with AAPL advertising Safari as a part of an iTunes update. The day they try to sneak it on your computer when one is updating a different Apple product (iTunes, Quicktime) then, I would be concerned.

The font rendering on Windows is terrible. Everything looks fuzzy; it hurts my eyes. Firefox and even IE is better than Safari on Windows.

Liberate the microserfs I say!

Good? Evil?

Honestly, who really cares? People can download it or choose to ignore it. No big deal either way.

I'd like to add what we could call maybe a third school of thought which would be that Apple wants to make know and use their browser to the largest community of potential future mac developers possible. Even if you have never heard of mac or safari before, you can take a look at Safari on Windows. And maybe you'll like it. And maybe it could happen you will start developping applications for mac or even websites supporting Safari. In both cases Apple wins. And now multiply by developper community all over the world.
Nope ? ;-)

Apple's push of Safari is a hell of a lot nicer than the 10,000 sites that generate a message that tells me to download and install Internet Exploder because my browser is "not compliant" or "obsolete" or a "security risk".

Or maybe it's that iTunes uses an embedded Safari for its iTunes store interface.

When Microsoft does things like this people goes crazy,
now it's Apple.. Chill! :D

(Including me..)

OK just to put things straight:
iTunes relies on WebKit to display it's store. Whenever somebody installs iTunes, he/she installs a reduced version of Safari, too. This reduced version in the past was just tested against the iTunes store and not available for other use. So it is natural that Apple wants to update it's Windows version of web kit to the non-beta version. The only thing not so clever is to lable this update Safari 3.1 and not WebKit and ask the user if he wants an additional installation of Safari during install (which would just be a small .exe that acts as an umbrella).

But anyway:
- windows users are used to this so Apple does not break the rules there
- Apple asks in a nice and polite way
- Apple does not force the installation

Pretty darn smart. Anyone on a PC running iTunes is already more of a potential Mac user than the others. Why not let them know about another free application from Apple they might enjoy? The more Apple apps a PC user becomes familiar with, the more they'll either be curious about what life is like on our computer or else know they are comfortably at home on their PC. I think it's a rather smart and non-threatening marketing scheme.

 Pfff what can you whine about.... Every company could and should do this. If you could have a userbase of more then 400 million Safari users (iTunes is 400 mil right?) then why not. I so get ****ing irritated by all those people that whine. People, you know yourself if you have Safari on you computer ok?! If you accept that you are just being stupid. Or maybe YOU are the one pressing the INSTALL button. Stupid idiots don't whine about what you do yourself and blame someone else.

*calm down...*

Safari looks so much better than any Winblows browser. People who are forced to use Winblows should thank Apple for forcing Safari onto their machines.

once upon a time i was a consumer reporter for a good-sized newspaper. I love apple; like safari. But imho pitching it as a software update is deceptive, and i don't like that. Apple says it does things "different": why not have the pop-up box invite you to TRY safari instead of updating what you don't have? The update program searches the hard drive to see whether you need an update or not, so it knows whether you have the full safari app installed. Do the sales pitch with class. Deception's classless--whether or not others do it.

I saw the update - didn't mind (thought it amusing to see really, as you should not just mindlessly click things when using any computer - Basics people - read the small print!)

But the fonts suck. It hurts, when compared to Firefox Arial or similar. It looks ok on Safari on a Mac, but Apple need to sort this out to actually get people to use it for long lengths of time. Plus Firefox 3 is round the corner...

Maybe Apple should focus on making Safari something besides the biggest piece of crap the browser world has ever seen before they expose people outside of the Mac world to it. Most people I know don't even use it on their Macs. Firefox and Opera are still the kings of Mac browsing. I would love to see Safari become the best browser in the world as Jobs champions it to be but the honest truth is that it's not even close.

I do have it installed on my Vista box as well and have participated in the beta testing. I've reported the zillions of bugs I've found but it seems to have done very little good.

I was hoping the latest update would resolve these issues. It hasn't. The 3.1 release still crashes like mad while the other windows browsers seem to work relatively well in comparison. If I weren't already a Mac user and was using Safari as an indicator of the quality of Apple software, and a deciding factor as to whether I should make the switch, I'd definitely stay away from purchasing a Mac.

Besides crashing, Safari does not play well with many websites I've visited. There have been numerous times that I was not able to fill out certain web based forms, use various buttons, or play media on embedded players on Safari. Apple needs to fix these issues before exposing Windows users to Safari. Fanboys may be able to look past these things but I can guarantee you that anyone whose not among the Apple faithful will have very little patience in dealing with Safari's shortcomings. Occasionally I can find a plug in that helps but having to dig these things up flies in the face of Apple's claims that their software "just works".

iTunes for Windows has 4 background "helping" applications that are IMO much worse than this cheap trick by Apple.

Glass of water? Wouldn't Safari be more like a cool wave to someone in El Azizia?

Not a thing wrong with Apple's approach. It's called business.