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Apple recently implemented the addition of Safari browser into Apple Software Update for Windows users. Apple Software Update was previously used to distribute the latest versions of iTunes and Quicktime, because they require each other in order to work. However, after the launch of Safari 3.1, Apple took the aggressive approach to spread its browser to the Windows community.

Since Internet Explorer is still the most popular browser, this move by Apple is reasonably tactical because iTunes is downloaded more than a million times a day. Apple Software Update is installed together with iTunes and using that fact to bring Safari to Windows users is probably the easiest method.

Apple told Information Week:

“We are using Software Update to make it easy and convenient for both Mac and Windows users to get the latest Safari update from Apple,” company spokesman Bill Evans said in an emailed statement.This is a very bold move by Apple because Apple Software Update lists Safari as an update, even if Safari isn’t previously installed. I can’t imagine how Windows users would react to having another browser installed on their PC if they didn’t check the update list properly.

UPDATE: Mozilla CEO John Lilly rebukes Apple’s move to push Safari to users with didn’t have it installed in the first place.

“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 bad - not just for Apple, but for the security of the whole Web…

There’s an implicit trust relationship between software makers and customers in this regard: as a software maker we promise to do our very best to keep users safe and will provide the quickest updates possible, with absolutely no other agenda.”