@Lintalist: Having just download and installed the FFS v8.7 setup (installer), I thought it might be useful or of interest to you - and others with similar concerns re Candyware - if I noted a few observations about the installation process:
- The download itself did not cause an alert from the AV component in either WinDefender or MBAM.
- When the installer was executed, it immediately triggered a PUP alert (re the Candyware) from MBAM, but nothing from WinDefender. So I set MBAM to let the installer run this once instead of automatically immediately quarantining it as usual (can't be too careful where children are using the laptop).
- The installer ran, but it had a disabled "ZIP" install option button (it was greyed out). It had not been thus disabled in the v8.5 installer. This is presumably how the developers now control those users who want a "portable" install in the "$FREE" version. This functionality is presumably now only enabled for the $donation users, so the developers have thus deliberately reduced the value of what the $FREE
suckers users get, in order to increase the differential of the value proposition for getting the $donate version. Shonky tactics. - The installer requested access several times through the firewall to addresses on the Internet. I run WFC (Windows Firewall Control) and have it set to pop up manual approval windows for any such firewall access requests from new proggies that have not previously been given access. So I just temporarily blocked each request as it arose ("block for now and ask me later"). The installer continued to run after each block.
- At no time did the installer present me with an option to accept/reject any Candyware installation. (Was the same for the v8.5 installer.)
- The installation finished normally and apparently without installing any PUP. (Was the same for the v8.5 installer.)
After making these observations, I would guess that, in pursuit of max
"$monetisation", some developers may be treading a very fine line between distributing a sound and stable product and deservedly gaining the reputation for deliberate trojan virus-spreading. The developers for FFS are presumably in that bind and this is an example of that. It is what from some perspectives could be an arguably shameful use of Candyware and excessively frequent updates as a mechanism for incrementally marginally ripping people off whilst euphemistically calling the product "$FREE" or "$donationware" (though "$coercionware" might be more applicable).
The so-called "business model" for developers using
sourceforge.net seems to have been broken in favour of something
less than ethical.At the moment, there seems to be no security "risk" (for me) to continue using updates to the $FREE version and as
@x16wda indicates, no real advantage in, nor incentive for using the $donation version, since it seems at best to be nothing more than a temporary rental/licence.
I would usually consider buying a lifetime licence for a product that I liked/needed, but probably
not for FFS
now, after what has gone before. One might be able to get away with arm-twisting/lying/cheating/abusing and even stealing from people for a long time, but eventually the silent majority will say "enough" - e.g., (say) as US President Nixon learned, and as the more recent presidential campaigners apparently belatedly discovered. Given the chance, people will tend to vote with their feet.
There was an amusing cartoon of Nixon's head with a caption under it that said "Would you buy a used car from this guy?" Says it all really - though for a long time people evidently
did buy into what Nixon said.
So, good as the product is, I'm not entirely sure that I'd buy a "lifetime" licence from the developers of FFS after their apparently relatively poor showing on the commercial front. Similarly for InfoSelect - another of my favourites.
As I have said elsewhere:
“By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them.”
- Matthew 7:16
