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Sneaky Safari Updater opinion roundup
The news that Apple has stealthily included Safari in its Software Updater bounced all over the Mac blogosphere today, and earned cheers and jeers (well, mostly jeers). Here's a quick roundup. The most attention probably comes from John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla, who unequivocally calls the decision "wrong," and says that doing something other than "updating" with an "updater" betrays the public trust. Darby Lines at The Angry Drunk says that the whole matter is just plain "whining" and that Apple is hardly forcing the software on anyone, especially considering that there's a checkbox right next to the name of it. And it's not like, as many people have said, installing Safari on a PC is actually a bad move. The Inquirer actually makes a worthwhile joke: "Some iTunes users report that the box to sign up for Safari appears pre-ticked." At least we think that's a joke -- you'd only say Apple was "targeting" and "hijacking" Windows users if you were joking, right? Microsoft Watch calls the program a "rogue updater," while Paul Mison fisks them pretty completely and shows that even if Apple did somehow hurt the computers by installing a reasonable, standards-compliant browser, Microsoft has done much, much worse. So what's the deal overall? As we said earlier, Jobs very plainly told us this was going to happen, and though, yes, users who don't pay attention may end up with extra software, it's extremely easy to not install the software. While a warning might have been nice, Apple isn't really outside its bounds here, so it's unlikely that they'll change it anyway.The only real result is that users, whether PC or Mac, are reminded once again to pay attention to what they're clicking on. It's unexpected that Apple would be the company to remind us of that, but it's as true as ever.
Microsoft: Vista sells 20 million, Microsoft Watch: We don't buy it
Microsoft says that Windows Vista sold 20 million copies in its first month of release, besting Windows XP's 17 million copies in its first two months. Engadget softens some of the press release spin, noting that 239 million PCs sold globally in 2006, so 20 million isn't a shock. But Microsoft Watch dismantles the original claim with a detailed editorial.Microsoft Watch says that Microsoft has counted sales beginning late last year before the general-public launch. The editorial also notes that license sales in the channel shouldn't count -- the "shipped" versus "sold" debate. Finally, analysts don't agree with the total.While Vista's sales numbers are being questioned, the OS is clearly going to end up on most PCs sooner or later, and the gaming world has had mixed reactions. Some developers have criticized the new OS, and some gamers have had initial driver problems. Hopefully Vista updates will fix any final issues for early adopters.Read -- Stacking Vista Licenses Too HighRead -- Windows Vista Debuts with Strong Global Sales
