Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam
Seth Rosenblatt:
Hey all,
I’m a writer at CNET and Download.com, and personally I’ve been getting a lot of feedback on the Download.com Installer, including but not limited to Mouser and I emailing directly. (We've spoken a few times over the years.) I had absolutely nothing to do with the development or approval of the installer, but I wanted to assure you that I’ve been forwarding on your complaints to the appropriate people.
I have no news of changes being made to the installer as of yet, but I can assure you that the people in charge of it are listening to your complaints and are strongly considering options for improving the experience. I can’t say whether the installer will ever go away because CNET is seeing a much higher download completion rate than before it was in use. I have not been provided with numbers to back this up, yet. However, your feedback does appear to be reaching its target.
In the meantime, if you’re a developer and would like your software to be excluded from the installer, you can send a request for exclusion here: [email protected]. No requests have been denied so far, to the best of my knowledge.
If you’re a Download.com reader, logging into your CNET account (at the top right corner of the page) will give you a text link on the download page that allows you to directly download the program you want, bypassing the installer. The link appears just below the green Download.com icon, and reads, “Direct Download Link.”
You are all more than welcome to continue sending your complaints and concerns to me, and I can forward them on. I can be reached at [email protected]. You can also send them to [email protected].
p.s. Yes, I'm posting this on a couple of sites. This is not an official CNET response, but me personally taking matters into my own hands to let you know you're being heard. In other words: BE GENTLE! :)
mouser:
Hi Seth,
First, thank you so much for posting, and for taking the time to talk with me/us about the issues.
You can tell that many of us are pretty upset over this issue.
I'm going to email the cnet-installer address and i will report how it goes trying to have the installer removed.
As I've expressed before, i think that 99.99% of this entire problem will be solved very easily if cnet simply makes it possible for authors to say they don't want their software wrapped with the cnet adware installer, without paying a fee.
CNet visitors may still rightfully be unhappy with getting this installer when they download certain software -- but that's a much more trivial issue that your visitors will have to make a decision about. But as long as authors can freely exclude their software from it, that would satisfy me.
[there is still the issue of cnet download.com not showing links to program web pages that i think should be addressed, but that's a separate issue]
KynloStephen66515:
Hey all,
I’m a writer at CNET and Download.com, and personally I’ve been getting a lot of feedback on the Download.com Installer, including but not limited to Mouser and I emailing directly. (We've spoken a few times over the years.) I had absolutely nothing to do with the development or approval of the installer, but I wanted to assure you that I’ve been forwarding on your complaints to the appropriate people.
I have no news of changes being made to the installer as of yet, but I can assure you that the people in charge of it are listening to your complaints and are strongly considering options for improving the experience. I can’t say whether the installer will ever go away because CNET is seeing a much higher download completion rate than before it was in use. I have not been provided with numbers to back this up, yet. However, your feedback does appear to be reaching its target.
In the meantime, if you’re a developer and would like your software to be excluded from the installer, you can send a request for exclusion here: [email protected]. No requests have been denied so far, to the best of my knowledge.
If you’re a Download.com reader, logging into your CNET account (at the top right corner of the page) will give you a text link on the download page that allows you to directly download the program you want, bypassing the installer. The link appears just below the green Download.com icon, and reads, “Direct Download Link.”
You are all more than welcome to continue sending your complaints and concerns to me, and I can forward them on. I can be reached at [email protected]. You can also send them to [email protected].
p.s. Yes, I'm posting this on a couple of sites. This is not an official CNET response, but me personally taking matters into my own hands to let you know you're being heard. In other words: BE GENTLE! :)
-m0rn1ng5t4r (August 26, 2011, 02:33 PM)
--- End quote ---
Firstly, Welcome to the site!
Secondly, its awesome that you have posted this information here for everybody to see. This will certainly help clear up any un-answered questions from the masses!
Great to see somebody from a large corporate run website taking matters personally!
40hz:
This is not an official CNET response...
-m0rn1ng5t4r (August 26, 2011, 02:33 PM)
--- End quote ---
@Seth - Thanks for joining in the discussion. Always glad to get some perspective from a person who's on the 'inside' so to speak. :)
Just out of curiosity, is there an official CNET response? Or is the prolonged silence as much of an "official response" as we can expect to get?
I would like to point out that perhaps the reason they're seeing a much higher completion rate than before is because not enough people are aware of the change that's taken place. And also that the "wrapper" has effectively hijacked much of the direct download traffic that could not previously be monitored.
I do find it interesting that developers still need to opt out of having a revenue generating installer placed around their application when they didn't request their software be carried by CNET to begin with. I'm not quite sure what could have ever made anybody at CNET think doing something like that could ever be completely legal - or even moderately ethical.
Now if CNET had first contacted the developers; announced a change to the rules; and then required them to either opt in - or be automatically dropped from download.com - that would have been one thing. (The right thing in fact.) But I suspect that doing so would have drawn far more attention to what was about to take place than some parties at CNET wanted, hence this unannounced (and frankly sneaky) change.
Just my tuppence. :nono2: This is wrong on so many levels.
mouser:
The best solution would be developer opt-in, with revenue sharing for those that opt-in, and a clear link to program homepage.
But as far as I'm concerned the only real bottom line thing that absolutely *must* be remedied as soon as possible is providing a cost-free way for developers to opt out of this installer wrapper. Until that happens I think all of us are going to keep screaming bloody murder.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version