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Et tu, Sourceforge?

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daddydave:
In a world where even Sourceforge bundles malware (why dignify it by calling it pupware?), is the era of recommending cool software over? I thought one of the talking points of open source software was that it was more secure because you had access to the source code? How about the source code to that malware?

In the "good old days" of unwanted software bundling, you could just people to pay attention because the installt going to try to install something, just hit Decline, Decline, and just say no to the extra stuff. Hey that still works with Java and the Ask Toolbar! But nowadays with most other stuff, you can decline everything that pops up and still end up spending half a day un-junking all your web browsers. And forget recommending software to less technical people, I was recently asked to recommend an antivirus, I recommended Avast, but I ended up being the one installing it. It's a good thing to because the direct link from Avast's web site goes to cnet downloads, and most people are going to just click straight on that cnet bundleware installer. If he had done that, my friend would have been mad at me for getting more malware on his system. (I was able to find a link on the Avast forums to a post with a non-bundleware installer for Avast).

When a developer agrees to this, I no longer trust the developer anymore. Once you decide it is OK to bundle malware with your software, the bundling of malware becomes the primary purpose of your software. I know some developers write software for free because they simply love to make cool software. Maybe over time, some developers feel like they've been burned by users making impossible demands for the developers' limited time, and this is their way to get revenge against ALL of the users, and in their minds, they are finally getting paid for their work. Thankfully some developers have still rejected that mindset.

The fact that you can't even trust Sourceforge now pisses me off to no end. This is how we are going to forced into app stores for everything, I guess. I'm grateful that DC will never be a party to these shenanigans.

IainB:
^^ +1: I had pretty similar disgusted thoughts only the other day when I was downloading/installing something from SourceForge. Luckily for me, MBAM seems to detect these "PUPs" before them being installed, and then quarantines them.

x16wda:
Yeah, the stuff like OpenCandy ticks me off too.

However, part of that is because if I don't want to install the crapware, I have to read the dialogs carefully and click and check the appropriate spots, even if they are grayed out like they're unavailable.  I think that honestly, I would be slightly less annoyed if the crap-wrapper defaulted to not installing anything extra at all unless you explicitly opt in during the process.  (I can't remember, did OpenCandy start out that way?)

mouser:
In all fairness, i do think there is a big distinction between bundling apps (like opencandy does) and adware on one side, and malware on the other.  And i think there is every reason to acknowledge this distinction.

If a developer wants to "bundle" his apps with other tools that are "OPT-IN", so that they will not install by default by a distracted user, and those other tools are easily uninstallable without leaving crap, and are not harmful to the pc, then I have no problem with that.

daddydave:
If a developer wants to "bundle" his apps with other tools that are "OPT-IN", so that they will not install by default by a distracted user,
-mouser (December 21, 2014, 03:44 AM)
--- End quote ---

Does anyone actually use opt-in? I don't think I've ever seen anything other than opt-out. I'm more concerned about the cases where you opt out of everythng, and in spite of that, you find something has taken over the home page, search engine of every installed web browser.

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