Earlier today, Apple released the Safari 3.1 Web browser for Mac OS and Windows XP/Vista. A couple hours later, Apple Software Update popped up on my daughter's Sony VAIO, offering Safari 3.1 for download. I didn't recall seeing an earlier version installed on the laptop. And I made no mistake: The Apple updater offered installation of new software, not something that had been there before. Whoa.
Apple distributes its software updater with iTunes. Adobe is among the other developers that also distribute software updaters with some products. But Apple has taken an interesting approach: using its updater as a Trojan horse for promoting software not already installed on the Windows PC.
Apple's approach is atypical. For example, I use Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox on my Vista PC. Mozilla's software updater automatically downloads Firefox updates, but it doesn't prompt me to download Thunderbird, which isn't on the laptop.
Already, Apple uses iTunes as a mechanism for distributing QuickTime. One requires the other. The updater isn't a required install with iTunes, and it can later be removed. But the strategy of using the updater to deliver other Apple software is an aggressive encroachment into the Windows desktop.