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What the hell is OpenCandy?
JavaJones:
It seems I agree with you generally speaking Wraith. But what is "adware"? Is that software that consistently displays ads while it runs? And regardless of labels, are you happy with how OC operates and is presented?
- Oshyan
Renegade:
Second it is the words that are my entire point of this conversation. OC is *not* adware, nor spyware, nor malware, but it is being categorized as such. Currently adware, spyware, and malware are all negative terms, and the threat of such labels is enough to force action in one way or another. But, if you dilute it using it in edge cases, or cases that have *nothing* to do with the terms in question, you begin to erode the power of the term (see rape, domestic abuse, and racism for examples of such). And that would be a real shame to see happen.
-wraith808 (April 01, 2011, 10:20 PM)
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Oooooh~! And don't forget the almighty "terrorism" buzz-word! Especially those students terrorists in the UK that protested education cuts and tuition hikes! :-\
Students are not terrorists. A lone kook that starts firing into a crowd is not a terrorist. Students are exactly that - students. Kooky nutjobs that start shooting people are exactly that, nutjobs. But the use of "terrorist" to describe them is a seriously bad idea.
@wraith808 - I think you've hit on an important concept: redefining words is often not a good idea. Where a word evolves in meaning, e.g. "installation" in 1960 vs. "installation" in 2010, that's one thing, but where we casually apply words inappropriately, it is lazy and can be dangerous.
Renegade:
It seems I agree with you generally speaking Wraith. But what is "adware"? Is that software that consistently displays ads while it runs? And regardless of labels, are you happy with how OC operates and is presented?
-JavaJones (April 02, 2011, 01:34 AM)
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The term "adware" originated a long, long time ago, in an Internet far, far away. What was going on there was radically different than what is happening now with OC. There's really no comparison. Then, "adware" was installed on your computer and ran in the background to sporadically pop up ads. OC is nothing similar.
While they may both have ads, it's kind of like associating the horror of someone screaming with napalm burning their flesh off and burnt toast, and calling them both "burnt" or "carbon". Maybe not the best example, but the extreme nature of the difference between the two is fairly accurate.
JavaJones:
So what you're saying is we need a new term to define things like OC? Maybe ad-ish-not-entirely-dishonest-may-not-be-so-bad-ware? :D
- Oshyan
Renegade:
So what you're saying is we need a new term to define things like OC? Maybe ad-ish-not-entirely-dishonest-may-not-be-so-bad-ware? :D
-JavaJones (April 02, 2011, 02:34 AM)
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YES~! :D
The best thing I've heard so far is "ad supported". It's used across platforms (web, mobile, desktop), and doesn't carry the evil connotations of "adware".
It's fairly accurate as well. Perhaps more accurate would be "ad supported in part" or "partly ad supported", but that's really just splitting hairs. e.g. At the moment my new little photo utility, Photo Resizer, is "partly" (or more accurately "minimally") ad supported as I've paid for everything (which was far from insignificant) except for the absolute tiniest portion that's so small as to not warrant mention, but still, the term "ad supported" is pretty good to describe it as it is short, succinct, and easy to remember.
Quite honestly, I resent the term "adware" to describe it because the connotations that go with "adware" are so horribly negative, and describe something entirely different. It's quite honestly offensive. (This is one of the very, very few areas where I can actually be offended. Which is why I kind of freaked out and blew up at PhilB66 here.)
The thing there is that it is very possible to confuse what's actually going on. From one perspective, they both look the same. The difference is that one of them is rotten inside. It's like meeting a police officer from Brazil and then assuming that he's part of the death squads out killing street children. There are good police, and bad ones too.
When we look at "adware", it has no real benefit. It sucks up CPU, fights with other adware for dominance, soaks up memory, and pops up ads with focus indiscriminately. That is a very, very far cry from software in the "ad supported" world. "Ad supported" software doesn't hide. Opera used to be the poster-child for ad supported, then they got rid of the ads and changed their revenue model some.
Still, I wouldn't label OC (or me or my software) as dishonest. I've been perfectly upfront and transparent about everything. Anything that I have not been upfront about is either a genuine oversight (that I'll happily address) or a detail for a larger issue that I've already mentioned and said I'd address, but simply haven't gotten around to doing so. If anything I'm a shining example of honesty in the software world~! :) :o 8) ;D
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