14 DAY TRIAL // It has been revealed that Apple is attempting to have its software installed on Windows users' PCs without their consent, again. Similarly to its move with the Safari 3.1 update this spring, Apple has reportedly bundled a MobileMe control panel applet with the iTunes 7.7 update for Windows users.
What's worse is that Apple's description of the software update doesn't include any specific information about the bundled extras, and doesn't prompt the user to opt for the extra piece of software or not. It gets even worse. Seemingly, users attempting to uninstall iTunes 7.7 for, say... this particular addition that they probably didn't want, will be stuck with the control panel applet. According to Computerworld, users must select "Apple Mobile Device Support" from the "Add or Remove Programs" applet in XP or "Uninstall or change a program" in Vista, in order to get rid of the software.
"The anti-malware organization that rebuked Apple for similar tactics in April said it has not had a chance to investigate, but on a general level the group objects to software that's installed without prior user approval or knowledge," the report mentions. "People who are not yet subscribers are taken to an Apple marketing Web site if they click on the 'Learn More' button under a 'Try MobileMe' heading."
According to the EULA that accompanies iTunes 7.7, the update to Apple's media player app is all there is to install. However, the bundled MobileMe software has been confirmed as present within the new version of iTunes.
Maxim Weinstein, manager of Stopbadware.org., wouldn't compare this move to the Safari incident, when Apple practically pushed its own web browser as an update to PC owners who hadn't even used it before, on their respective machines.
"We haven't had an opportunity to look at it, so we don't have a formal evaluation," he said. "But our guidelines require and the [user] community expects that when an application installs new or different functionality that users are notified and able to consent to that." Weinstein added that Stopbadware.org was working to come up with an evaluation of the MobileMe-iTunes situation within the following weeks.
MobileMe is described by Apple as "Exchange for the rest of us." The service syncs data between all your devices and the MobileMe servers by applying / pushing the changes made to e-mails, the address book, or the calendars, to each device you use and view them on.