Apple is under attack — from a competing browser maker. Mozilla CEO John Lilly on Friday blasted Apple for including the Safari browser in its iTunes motorized update service for Mac and Windows operating systems. Mozilla makes the open-source Firefox Web browser.

“What Apple is doing now with their Apple Software Update on Windows is wrong. It undermines the trust relationship great companies have with their customers, and that’s poor — not just for Apple, but for the protection of the whole Web,” Lilly wrote in his blog.

Breaching a Trust

From Lilly’s perspective, it’s crucial for users to be protected from vulnerabilities. Apple, he argues, is breaching a trust.

“There’s an implicit trust relationship within software makers and customers in that regard: As a software maker we promise to do our very best to keep users safe and will supply the quickest updates possible, with absolutely no other agenda,” Lilly said. “And when the user

trusts the software maker, they’ll generally go ahead and install the patch, keeping themselves and everyone else safe.”

Apple has made it incredibly easy — as the default — for users to install ride-along software that they didn’t ask for, and perhaps don’t want, according to Lilly. “This is wrong, and borders on malware distribution practices,” he wrote. “It’s wrong considering it undermines the trust that we’re all trying to build with users.”

Lilly’s blog post stirred up dozens of comments.

“This is just a sick way of tricking users to download their browser by making it seem as whether an update is available for a piece of software already installed. I bet it even takes by as the default browser afterward, which would look very poor on Apple,” a commenter named “Kurt” wrote on the Mozilla blog. Meanwhile, “Ian Hayward” said he is shocked and feels “a little less…

Original post by Top Tech News