The industry should have evolved beyond this practice by now. I'm sure there's a less invasive profit center.
This practice specifically preys on the less tech savvy. Not cool... It seems like reputable companies would distance themselves from the practice but some of the most popular software still tries to get you to opt-in via a strategically placed checkboxes or misleading question. It's time for us to stop accepting this. Our parents, kids and friends deserve better.
Thoughts?
Simple example would be : Flash, Reader, Java, Avast, ...
I was on a computer the other day without adblock and I can't believe how horrible the standard internet viewing experience has become.
I know I avoided using adblockers (I want to support my favorite websites after all)...until I had one particularly pernicious ad served to me on comics.com that hadn't been vetted, and caused my browser window to minimize, and displayed a popup right over my (Windows) system tray, styled to look like a system alert, indicating my system wasn't secure and I needed to click here and download X. That was the final straw, and I haven't looked back.
Our local IT press also constantly advertises for adblockers and non-IE browsers, too, so it might be a "cultural" issue.
Gaming, Tech, Adult, Entertainment category websites see the highest adblock users ranging from 30-20%. Other websites go as low as 5%.
Since they won't, makes you wonder how much they're being paid to leave it in.
As a guy who uses firebug, I'd much rather download a special built executable of firebug for myself, once, than spend a lifetime cleaning up relatives browser bars.
(edited to rephrase, what I'm asking for is a market bifurcation where stereotypical end users can't install toolbars and stuff to get owned, but devs are given the ability to screw their browsers up. Or we simply distribute dev tools separate from end user tools.)
Oracle doesn't bundle adware with the JDK.
This would be a non issue with a proper package manager (that or a well curated "app store").
Installers should be a thing of the past, they hardly serve any purpose in this day and age.
You can't expect people to stop doing that if it makes them money. I'm pretty sure the vast majority here doesn't accept this kind of behaviour (whatever that means), but so what? We're not the target anyway.
Look at Steam. Look at the various un*x package managers. They don't have this problem. When I install/update a game through Steam I don't have to worry about crapware (besides steam itself, but that's an other issue).
And the Java updater for Windows tries to install the Ask toolbar on every update. I feel like these are programs I can't really avoid installing, either. Scum!
YC has invested[0] in a company called InstallMonitizer[1] that appears to help developers and advertisers connect in the pay-per-install marketplace.
[0] http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130115/17343321692/why-ar...
[1] http://www.installmonetizer.com/
Sadly it does't seem like a practice that will go away any time soon. I'd like to do some digging around on developer forums and see if any folks have shared their experience and would be able to comment on the amount of extra revenue that they see from such programs.
And to be clear, they were not checkboxes, or "custom install" options. They were straight-up walls of text in tiny textareas, with only "accept" and "decline" buttons.
My instinct was to decline them, and they just kept coming. After I dismissed the final crap, the installer then downloaded the real installer for the app I was trying to install.
This - download.com and others - is absolutely not one of them.
AGREE to this offer DECLINE this offer
And the offer obviously is to install some toolbar crap into your browser. Normally I'm very careful not to install any adware or toolbars, but this one caught me off guard.
If I rememeber correctly, Ccleaner was removed from Ninite due to the automatic refusal of big G's toolbar.
