thank you for taking the time to look into that!
What we discovered about InstallMonetizer
31–40 of 188 posts
Re: What we discovered about InstallMonetizer
#32I think people will be wondering if this resembles the founders' ideas when they were funded by you, and if this represents the kind of company you wish to be funding. You may of course defend the product on technical grounds (accept buttons, EULAs, etc) but I find it hard to believe that you truly think it is anything but a nuisance to end-users.
They're working on something new, and all the office hours I had with them were about that. They're not even in our database of companies as InstallMonetizer but as the new thing. (I'm not sure if I can say the name because it may not be launched yet.) I knew they had some previous product that was called a Windows installer, but I don't think we ever talked about what it did. The whole world of Windows software seem…
Fair enough. It does come across on http://www.installmonetizer.com/AT_aboutus.php that the product is funded/endorsed by Y Combinator though.
Re: What we discovered about InstallMonetizer
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Concat them into a single 80 bit value and hash THAT however, and you should be more than fine. Even the 48 bit mac address alone is 281,474,976,710,656 possibilities, and thus likely rainbow-table proof, especially if salted.
Perhaps worth noting that mac addresses do not have 48 bits of entropy . You can prioritize the OUIs actually being used in consumer NICs and chop that down substantially. IP addresses don't have 32 bits of entropy either for that matter.
That's true. However, with adequate salting it really shouldn't matter.
Re: What we discovered about InstallMonetizer
#34I dunno, 1. and 2. seem like a cop out to me. When crappy freeware Windows installers provide a checkbox (checked by default, of course) to opt out of Bonzai Buddy or a million Ask.com toolbars or some bullshit malware scanner, they are still shitty and sketchy, and it's disappointing to me to know that YC is now behind a company that makes such software. And saying this crapware is popular does little to assuage my…
Exactly, I always feel these "choices" are like being sold an extended warranty. It's presented as a choice but is "strongly recommended", non tech savvy users are likely not sure what "recommended" means in this context. Does it mean that the software might break my computer without it? Does it stop me getting a virus?
Anybody who consciously decides that they want the ask toolbar on their computer can find the standalone download here:
http://sp.ask.com/toolbar/install/apnasktoolbar/download.php
Re: What we discovered about InstallMonetizer
#35I think people will be wondering if this resembles the founders' ideas when they were funded by you, and if this represents the kind of company you wish to be funding. You may of course defend the product on technical grounds (accept buttons, EULAs, etc) but I find it hard to believe that you truly think it is anything but a nuisance to end-users.
They're working on something new, and all the office hours I had with them were about that. They're not even in our database of companies as InstallMonetizer but as the new thing. (I'm not sure if I can say the name because it may not be launched yet.) I knew they had some previous product that was called a Windows installer, but I don't think we ever talked about what it did. The whole world of Windows software seem…
I think this clarifies the whole thing: pg doesn't mind that much making Windows ecosystem a bit shittier. Not doing it purposefully, but also not feeling too bad if that is a side effect.
Edit: spelling
Re: What we discovered about InstallMonetizer
#36Paul, I'm one of the two people you're indirectly addressing with this HN post. (The second is Long Zheng.) I wrote here: http://www.withinwindows.com/2013/01/16/installmonetizer-qui... Long zheng wrote here: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20130115/y-combinator-is-fu... I'll respond to each of your items individually. 1. OK. 2. Maybe. Or more likely users are mistakenly installing these applications because the off…
4. Wrong. Existing IM bundles out there still send PII in the clear. This isn't something they can just flip a switch on and fix. (I saw IM edited their privacy policy to note the new hashing procedures but sadly that doesn't cover the bundles on the Internet today. So it's wrong.)
Note that Paul's response said that they "are going to start" uploading hashes.
Re: What we discovered about InstallMonetizer
#37This is a company doing the right thing in these messy industry. They are growing and winning because they are playing by the rules and trying to do the right thing!
are you a troll
Re: What we discovered about InstallMonetizer
#38Paul, I'm one of the two people you're indirectly addressing with this HN post. (The second is Long Zheng.) I wrote here: http://www.withinwindows.com/2013/01/16/installmonetizer-qui... Long zheng wrote here: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20130115/y-combinator-is-fu... I'll respond to each of your items individually. 1. OK. 2. Maybe. Or more likely users are mistakenly installing these applications because the off…
4. Wrong. Existing IM bundles out there still send PII in the clear. This isn't something they can just flip a switch on and fix. (I saw IM edited their privacy policy to note the new hashing procedures but sadly that doesn't cover the bundles on the Internet today. So it's wrong.) Note that Paul's response said that they "are going to start" uploading hashes.
Few problems:
1. They already edited their privacy policy, so as far as I'm concerned it's "live". But...
2. It's not. And it will never be, because it's hard-coded into the software bundled out on the Internet today. They may provide new bundles with hash code in place, but it's too late...
Re: What we discovered about InstallMonetizer
#39I dunno, 1. and 2. seem like a cop out to me. When crappy freeware Windows installers provide a checkbox (checked by default, of course) to opt out of Bonzai Buddy or a million Ask.com toolbars or some bullshit malware scanner, they are still shitty and sketchy, and it's disappointing to me to know that YC is now behind a company that makes such software. And saying this crapware is popular does little to assuage my…
Why don't you include examples of IM misbehaving rather than other companies you're trying to associate with them? The other post about this was full of this and it's crap.
Re: What we discovered about InstallMonetizer
#40Glad to hear the follow up