It seems that recently, Apple started pushing its Safari web browser to all Windows users having iTunes installed. I’ve never been an Apple fan: I think the OS is certainly not more userfriendly in contrast to what some people say, and although it is somewhat Unix based, they removed and re-implemented half of it (I’m thinking of things like launchd, broken NIS support and others), which is terrible for people used to *nix. And I have my doubts about the hardware too: apparently the latest generation Macbook Pro still come with way too less USB ports to work comfortobly, the international keyboards are different from standard PC keyboards, and I’m still not sure it is really that cheap, or at least the “Pro” stuff).
With the decision to force the installation of Safari on all Windows systems running the Apple updater, Apple is finally showing its real face: just like Microsoft, it does not care at all about its users and will do whatever is necessary to gain widespread adoption.
The install is not mandatory.
In fact when using Apple Update software, Safari is in the list and selected by default. Normally you can unselect it. At the contrary installing iTunes will always install Quicktime.
Installing the browser is one thing, but does it replace the default browser by default or does it just sit unused here ?
The article on microsoft watch seems to imply itunes use safari as rendering engine, but I fail to see where.
( and sorry, I fail to see how replacing IE by a webkit powered engine is a so bad thing :p )
Regarding macosx, launchd is a nice thing, and it is not more different of what ubuntu is doing with upstart. You can see on http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1781045834610400422 why this is a interesting feature.
You have a point on nis being broken, even if I do not use nis ( so I cannot really tell this annoy me ).
And while macosx doesn’t seems more userfriendly then other at first, I even dislike some feature because it is not like what I am used to have, mainly the way windows are managed, with a two step hierarchy, it is extremely integrated.
Let me give you a exemple. When you do software update, it detect if you are on battery or not and show a popup. Packagekit can do that since some months ( http://www.packagekit.org/pk-screenshots.html ), but os x do it since a long time.
I guess that’s the kind of small details that make people say that it is userfriendly, and I think you should really get your hand on a mac and take a look, there is good ideas to see and implement on mandriva side.
And it is not somewhat unix based, it is running most of linux or freebsd software without much modifications.
Regarding the usb port on macbook, that’s just a choice they have made, I personnaly never use anything on usb. There is a already wifi, webcam, so unless you want to plug a external mouse, a keyboard, a scanner and a printer, two usb ports seems enough to me. My old laptop ( vaio ) didn’t have more, and I think I never needed more.
I wasn”t a big fan of apple either, but I have still bought one because the hardware seemed good, and so far, i am not disapointed.
The way apple managed to do thing is impressing me, and I can understand why some people loves them.
IMHO, if microsoft continue to do errors like vista seems to be, apple will take a significant market share with enough time. There is lot of ex linux users on osx, and I think people being tired of windows will switch on osx as much as linux.
Well, I have a bad feeling about this all: if Microsoft would be installing extra unneeded software disguised as a simple software update, everybody would be screaming and say it’s a big scandal they are putting their browser down their user’s throat this way. But if Apple is installing such stuff without reason, people seem to accept, probably under the idea that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Still it’s totally wrong in my opinion.