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Apple Puts an End to Illegal Safari Installations on Windows PCs

After shoving the browser down the throats of Windows users

Mar 27, 2008 16:27 GMT  ·  By
Safari
   Safari

This is it! Apple has put an end to all the illegal installation of the Safari browser on PCs running the Windows operating system. The Cupertino-based hardware company, and maker of the Mac OS X operating system that ships with Safari as a default component, had its arms wrapped tight around the browser. In this context, Apple specifically prohibited users to install Safari on a Windows PC. And yes, the Cupertino-based company made it illegal for users to install its Safari browser tailored to 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista and Windows XP, ON(!) Windows. If it does sound like a contradiction, it's because it is.

Until recently, Apple's Software License Agreement for Safari for Windows failed to allow Windows users to install Safari. Under section 2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions, Apple revealed that: "this License allows you to install and use one copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time." This text made it illegal for all Windows users to deploy a copy of the Safari browser on their operating systems, even if it was designed for Microsoft's proprietary platform.

Thanks to this small segment of the EULA, users that indeed went ahead and installed Safari for Windows on a Windows PC managed to successfully break the license agreement. And Apple was the main contributor to the practice of end users breaking their license agreement. First of the Cupertino-company compiled an erroneous EULA, and then it pushed the browser via Apple Software Update masquerading as an update to all Windows users along actual software updates for iTunes or for QuickTime.

But apparently, Apple will not debut legal action against any users that broke the license of Safari for Windows by installing the browser on machines running Windows that were not Apple-labeled computers. After the issue was made public by setteB via The Register, Apple has revamped the EULA. The new license states that users are allowed to "install and use one copy of the Apple Software on each computer" controlled by them.