MobileMe is able to be used with an iPhone or iPod Touch, but it will ALSO sync with your Outlook mail, contacts, and calendars independent of the use of an iPod Touch or iPhone.

Since the MobileMe sync is external to iTunes itself, it makes sense that it's a control panel item (it probably controls services). However, it also makes sense that it's delivered with iTunes in part because the first people on Windows that will want it will be the people who have an iPod Touch or iPhone.

I wonder about the people who are all up in arms about this, because it's a lot less crap (and a lot more useful) than comes installed with most PCs out of the box, or with some otherwise useful freeware or sometimes even payware.

More people will want this or not care than won't want this.

An interesting perspective, Austin. But to sync with Outlook mail, contacts and calendars will cost you $US99 a year. If you want that facility, Google gives it to you for free. I've written about some of the process here, or there's CompanionLink.

The irritating crapware practices of HP/Lenovo/Dell etc don't justify irritating crapware practices of Apple, and some people might find your assumption about other people tolerating crap as patronising ... which is how I find a lot of over-zealous Apple supporters.

I'd be prepared to bet money that more people WON'T want this, and WILL care than you suggest. It's unacceptable.

Well, you made me look through the installed programs to see what Mr Jobs had snuck in when I wasn't looking.

Apple Mobile Device Support -- didn't ask for that.
Apple Software Update -- completely uninvited.
Bonjour -- now what in G's name is that? Mr J enrolling us in French lessons without our knowledge?

I did make the mistake of inviting iTunes on board because I couldn't work out how to get Quicktime without it. And Quicktime is just about the worst video viewer around. Sound is always out of synch. Frame rate is slower than my still camera's burst speed. But it seems we are forced to use it for some stuff. VLC is far superior, but I haven't been able to work out how to integrate it with browsers.

I also installed Safari out of curiosity, and now I understand what happened to the cat.

Ah, always nice to see Charles feisty. You what is worse than all the iStuff? It's Apple Software Updater, Google Software Updater and Adobe Software Updater. Adobe Acrobat Reader (free) 9.0 even insists that you firstly accept to download Adobe Download Manager before you can get the Reader. These Updaters join the notorious Windows Updater - everyone throws stones at ol'Bill but then they make their own updaters live in the system tray chewing cpu cycles, tray space, internet traffic and slow down Windows load time. Adobe Updater regularly brings an increment of Reader but then tries to install it and fails.

BTW, Bonjour is some network device discovery service.

Yep, I've been crapwared by Apple too!

Got rid of Bonjour and Apple Mobile Device Support thru add/remove programs.

Guess I'll have to remember to look there every time itunes updates :-#

We should be an Equal Opportunity whinger here in this forum. So let's have a go at Bill G and the unwanted automatic updates.

We have had to turn off the auto updates for Vista yet again. Every time we foolishly leave it on Windows downloads updates for our Compro TV tuner driver, gets halfway through installing, throws up its hands and declares it is all too hard and marks it as "failed".

The problem is that this always happens after it has thoroughly corrupted the driver installation.

You might think Restore would be the way to go ... but no, Mr G has thought of that and made sure that the install is so thoroughly twisted that there is nothing to restore.

You have to completely remove the driver and start all over again.

Why can't they just leave us alone?