[olivelappers]

OS and browser bundling makes sense. It is important for the programs to have access to a rendering engine built into the OS. On OS X, this is Webkit (which is used by Safari). In Windows, this is Trident (which is used by IE). In Linux, this is either Gecko or Webkit/KHTML depending on the environment. This is quite a tangent. There is of course a reason to have a browser with the OS, but nothing stopping the inclusion of other browsers as well.

There is absolutely no technical nor use-case reason for iTunes to be forcing Safari out as an "update" to users who have never used it before. The entire purpose of this is a desperate attempt at stealing userbase since no one is using Safari on Windows. You seem to be confusing iTunes with Apple Software Update. The updater says 'Searching for new software' when it starts up, produces Safari 3.1, and explains that it is a fast web browser. Because the download is not automatic there is no 'forcing it' here.

The wording of this being an "upgrade" to someone who has never installed it is confusing to most users. Most users blindly hit "yes" to any "update" prompts, which is precisely what Apple is counting on here. If people actually wanted to install Safari, they could get it from the site. The whole purpose behind this move is to trick people into using it. The whole reason IE is bundled with XP is to convince millions of people that IE is basically the only way to browse the web. Apple's stepping up to and probably a little over the line here, but it is insane to say microsoft doesn't do far worse with each copy of XP it distributes.