Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The Nefarious Virus that is Apple

I haven't posted on this blog in months. I've been too busy. I've not had much to say. I didn't have the time. Take your pick. You'd be right on any of the above. But Oh, do I have something to say now! There is an infuriating little icon in my Windows Control Panel entitled "MobileMe Preferences". Funny thing. I didn't sign up for it. Never requested the software to be installed. So you can only imagine my consternation.

For the one or two people that may happen on this posting and wonder about my anger, let me enumerate.
1. This is an entirely new software which was sneaked onto my computer without my permission from a so-called reputable company as part of a software update.
2. Apple has done this before with their release of Safari - "The so called best browser on earth". Then again, what thing has been released by apple isn't "The best blah blah on earth?". That previous release had the entire tech blogosphere crying foul. That method undermines the entire software update system, because if I don't trust a company to only install updates of software I put in there before, I may shut down the update system, which is bad because I may disregard actual critical software updates that I need. - There was incessant outcry from the previous issue with Safari. You would think they would learn.
3. If Microsoft tried this tactic, they would incite so much anger and flame from people. Apple does this and somehow, it's less of a problem? I think not.

The ironic part of this whole fiasco is that MobileMe has turned out to be one of Apple's rather crappy releases of the past few years. Way to go Apple.

With Apple's market share slowly growing, if this is what we should be expecting from Apple, there are lots of reasons to be worried.