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Nice blog post on the parasitic software hosting sites bundling junkware

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bit:
Who else should I add?-bit (April 04, 2014, 05:25 PM)
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Brothersoft (unless they've changed their ways since I last checked).

And what's that one that shows a Sergeant icon?-bit (April 04, 2014, 05:25 PM)
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MajorGeeks was clean last I knew.
-skwire (April 04, 2014, 05:45 PM)
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Thank you. I always get confused over which source is clean or not, so I'm creating a Desktop text file as a sort of 'sticky note' so I can keep track of them until I get them properly memorized. Yes, I find it amazing that Google allows the 'scum' to consistently 'float' to the top of the results like that.

40hz:
To my mind, the real problem software developers have is that many got sucked into the "monetizing" game and started including "offers" with their installers. And then there were things like OpenCandy jumping through hoops to redefine the terms "adware" and "spyware." And indy devs went along with these sorts of things to "gain exposure" and minimize their hosting and bandwidth expenses. So aggregator sites and bundling became the norm. And now, many in the marketplace have become desensitized to the presence of bundling - and totally deaf to the words of software developers and distributors. So any protests by developers to the general public aren't likely to be heard. Because they're no longer listening to the industry.

It was only a matter of time before some enterprising crapware bundler put 2 and 2 together and completely cut the software developer from the equation.

You get what you pay for. And you pay for who you associate with.

And that sad new-age adage still remains true: If you're not the customer - you're the product."

Especially when somebody else is picking up your distribution expenses. Just ask Walmart.  

J-Mac:
Whatever happened to OpenCandy? Their rep was posting here a lot for a while, really pushing their wrapper and, like 40hz said, redefining the terms "adware" and "spyware". Then it all stopped suddenly. Did they crash and burn? Change their name? Get bought out by Google?

Thanks!

Jim

zenzai:
Here's a list of sites that should be clean which I picked up in a forum. Haven't tested them myself yet, so use at your own risk:

Clean download sites:
http://LO4D.com
http://freewarebb.com
http://ninite.com
http://Majorgeeks.com
http://Softpedia.com
http://TechSpot.com
http://Filehippo.com
http://SnapFiles.com
http://fileforum.betanews.com
http://downloadcrew.com

40hz:
Whatever happened to OpenCandy? Their rep was posting here a lot for a while, really pushing their wrapper and, like 40hz said, redefining the terms "adware" and "spyware". Then it all stopped suddenly. Did they crash and burn? Change their name? Get bought out by Google?

Thanks!

Jim
-J-Mac (April 09, 2014, 11:43 PM)
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It's still owned and operated by Sweetlabs Inc. over in San Diego CA. And they appear to be still very much in business, claiming $21.5 million in venture funding and 750 million app installs according to their website. Not small potatoes by any measure, it would appear.

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