Mozilla: Apple's Safari "borders on malware"

Last week, Apple made a slight change in its Software Update applet: The application started pushing a download of version 3.1 Apple's Safari web browser to PC users who haven't installed the browser on their machine. While most of us power users can probably handle unchecking that check box, concerns mounted that some PC users could be duped into unwittingly installing the browser. While reactions to the move varied, Mozilla CEO John Lilly emerged as one of the more incensed voices in the crowd. "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. This is wrong, and borders on malware distribution practices," Lilly wrote in a blog post. "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." What do you think--is this simply a sneaky maneuver or something more sinister? Let us know what you think in the comments.

For more on the controversy:
- see this post on John Lilly's blog