iTunes Must Die

Okay, so I don’t actually use iTunes. My brother uses it as a podcast aggregator, but uses DaniuSoft iPod Music Transfer instead of iTunes to sync his Classic. I don’t mind iTunes being on my system if it works as an iPod sync/music player. But it doesn’t just reside in my system, it seems to have taken control of the system. Every so often, Apple feels the need to update the program for security and bug fixes. Great. But when suddenly its ‘update’ includes their crummy browser (Safari) which tries to set itself as a default browser instead of Firefox, I begin to get upset. It’s not necessarily that it doesn’t want to promote itself, but that on a system restart it decides to tell you that there is an urgent update, and ‘oh by the way, would you like to install Safari?’ If you really don’t please uncheck this icon. And the best part? My brother installed Safari last week. When I got back from vacation, I saw that icon and immediately uninstalled it, as Firefox, Opera, and IE7 serve us just fine. But today, three days after I uninstalled it, the friendly neighborhood Apple Software Update announces that there is a new update to iTunes, and that I should download the ‘fastest and most elegant web browser for the PC.’ Again. Did uninstalling you once not give you a sneaky suspicion that I DO NOT WANT IT?

Then there’s QuickTime. Every time iTunes is launched, QuickTime suddenly decides it is all important and resets itself as a default player for .mov filed despite my telling it to “shut up already, I’m using GOM Player and QT Alternative” the day before. There used to be a time where you could just get iTunes. No QuickTime, no annoying pop up window for Safari, and it would only ask to update when you launch the program.
Today, however, comes the last straw. I was wandering into the Control Panel to uninstall a program when, lo and behold, there is a new icon! MobileMe Preferences had taken up residence in my computer, despite my having neither an iPhone nor a MobileMe account. I uninstalled it immediately. However, I have a feeling it will be back after the next update. Whilst in the Programs and Features dialog, I removed Bonjour, which apparently does nothing. But the uninstall of the program insisted on closing everything- including Windows Update, Avast!, and Windows Time. But not iTunes helper. People often ask me why I abstain from buying Apple products. “They’re so elegant,” they exclaim, “and everything just works.” They may be right. But they have little idea what, exactly, Apple is doing to their system.

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