In our house, we have two computers running Mac OSX 10.6, one running XP Professional, and two running XP Home. I win the job of being network administrator.
So, today, I was working on updating my daughters XP computer. The antivirus software updated without a hitch. (I was reminded, of course, that I do not need such on my Macs.) Then, Java wanted to update itself. I concurred, and it began to load in the background.
Before long there was a requester which, if I had not clicked the proper boxes, would have loaded the Yahoo! Toolbar as well as Java. I did not want the Yahoo! Toolbar.
After that, I downloaded Ad-Aware so that I could check her computer for all those nasty things that seem go be attracted to PCs. In the process, again, I had to click carefully, or the download would have installed in addition to what I asked for also Google Chrome web browser. I might have wanted Chrome, but when I want it, I’d like to go get it, thank you.
I have to conclude that this is simply one of those things which distinguishes Mac culture from PC culture. In nearly four years of using a Mac, and downloading and trying tons of shareware and freeware, I have not once run into a situation where a program tries to install something I did not ask for.
That is one of the reasons I use a Mac and have no desire to head back to PC-ville regardless of arguments about price or the slickness of Windows 7. Mac-ville is a much more pleasant – and courteous – place to live. No one tries to slip into your house uninvited.