I was working on the principle it was crap when I DLd QuickTime, it took a bit of sniffing to find a version that didn't have iTunes bundled. (and now I've got QT I have autoplay issues that I didn't have before :-( )

I'm thinking Apple, like any other company with proprietorial needs, thinks of the bottom line first, the image second and the actual product a distant third. Can't blame them for it, but I do tend to stick to OS stuff when I can.