91–100 of 468 posts
> Although the company claims it is all “non-personally identifiable data”, according to its website this surprisingly includes not only IP but the globally unique MAC addresses. Enough with the scare tactics. A Mac adress is not, in any way, globally unique.
Winzip and Nero use the Ask Partner Network (I used to work there on the Ask Toolbar) to monetize their free software, so that is probably where that first email came from. http://apn.ask.com/ There's also conduit: http://toolbar.conduit.com/
> Winzip and Nero use the Ask Partner Network Sadly, on Windows even Oracle's Java has the ASK toolbar. Almost nobody has any pride left on the Windows-platform, user-abuse is rampant, almost expected. It's killing the platform and there's nothing Microsoft can do about it.
Bundling third-party software with installers already happens and will continue to happen whether this company exists or not. If they can improve upon that experience somehow: - Reviewing the software before allowing it to be bundled and weeding out the bad eggs. - Adding user reviews inline with the list of software to install. ...then there's a possibility that they can make this a pleasant, legitimate experience f…
The crapware situation on Windows is horrible. I'm a Mac/Linux user but from time to time I have to power up my Windows VM. A few days ago I wanted to install the Partition Magic trial on my Win XP VM. Having left Windows around 2005 I figured that typing "Partition Magic Win XP download" in Google would be helpful. I got a handful of "reputable" download sources like CNet and the like. I went there and was bombarded…
"A few days ago I wanted to install the Partition Magic trial on my Win XP VM" Windows XP is more than a decade old. The latest release, nearly five. To generalize about the current state of Windows based upon recent experience with Windows XP is either ignorant, disingenuous, or blindly biased.
Likely they got funded because they have a real way to make money! Unlike whoever offers the next airbnb for dogs. From an ethical standpoint, better the devil you know? Windows freeware developers deserve some compensation for their work, and this seems less scuzzy than other drive-by downloaders. If it became widespread it might break out of the user-exploitation ghetto and pick up real, actually synergistic softwa…
So, they have a business plan, good for them. But it doesn't make them any less scammy, nor does it make it any less disappointing to see YC funding people with the same ethics as your average patent troll.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Problem is that the end user is probably going to think "My computer is full of pop-ups wtf is going on?" not "oh, I have popups because I installed FreePornApp 2.0 which came with InstallMonitizer 3, I'll make sure not to get anything with that bundleware again".
I've mentioned several times now that this company could review software that gets bundled. It's going full circle. Let's end this with: Who cares.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"A few days ago I wanted to install the Partition Magic trial on my Win XP VM" Windows XP is more than a decade old. The latest release, nearly five. To generalize about the current state of Windows based upon recent experience with Windows XP is either ignorant, disingenuous, or blindly biased.
The results of a google search are somewhat independent of OS. I've found exactly the same problem myself, when searching for Windows downloads in Mac OS X, and get similar spammy results in Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Of course, another stripe of deluded individual might blame Microsoft for the abundance of crapware on the internet.
> Although the company claims it is all “non-personally identifiable data”, according to its website this surprisingly includes not only IP but the globally unique MAC addresses. Enough with the scare tactics. A Mac adress is not, in any way, globally unique.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not familiar with the OSX installation procedure, but I assume that dragging the app into the folder runs some installer script? Are there perhaps restrictions on what can be done via these scripts that would require 2 distinct actions to install say a browser toolbar and application?
Dragging an app into /Applications does just that: it copies a directory (hidden with an .app extension) that contains resources and executable. No script. Some apps however come with an installer, but that's for apps that do more (e.g. need to install drivers, etc.). However, it's Apple's own installer which I think is provided by Xcode. So, no way to mess with it and install crappy things.
Bundling third-party software with installers already happens and will continue to happen whether this company exists or not. If they can improve upon that experience somehow: - Reviewing the software before allowing it to be bundled and weeding out the bad eggs. - Adding user reviews inline with the list of software to install. ...then there's a possibility that they can make this a pleasant, legitimate experience f…
The post we're discussing mentions payouts of $0.30 to $1.50 per install. Factor in InstallMonetizer's unspecified cut, and you're looking at some pretty significant rates. What sort of software do you think can afford to pay that much to get bundled? If it's a trial up-sell at typical shareware pricing, it would need on the order of 10% conversion just to break even. I can't imagine a sensible monetization path for…