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Adobe wants Ninite to stop rolling out crapware-free Flash

theregister.co.uk

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Re: Adobe wants Ninite to stop rolling out crapware-free Flash

#81

Post by w1ntermute »

DannyBee wrote: post #77
w1ntermute wrote: post #56

Can anyone with a legal background explain if Adobe can actually force Ninite to change the way their software works? AFAICT, they can't. Why did this guy give in to Adobe? Because they've got an army of lawyers they can attack him with?

Yes, they can legally stop ninite from redistributing the installer using the installer license terms if they like. It's a dick move, but not illegal

But Ninite isn't redistributing the installer, is it? It's downloading it directly from Adobe's site when the user runs it, just like if the user were to manually download Flash.

Re: Adobe wants Ninite to stop rolling out crapware-free Flash

#82

Post by minopret »

Ugh, "coalface admins". If I can hope to influence anyone's usage, I'll advise against using "coalface" as an adjective for people. I realize that a coalface is a place where a worker turns a resource into a commodity. But the word "coalface" is too much like "blackface". In fact it is used that way in regard to birds and cats. It risks distracting people with disturbing connotations, particularly here in the United States.

Re: Adobe wants Ninite to stop rolling out crapware-free Flash

#83

Post by rplnt »

protospork wrote: post #25
JohnTHaller wrote: post #10

This article is a bit... lacking. First off, the Flash updater on Windows works quite well on modern Windows systems. Second off, Ninite isn't just some good Samaritan, they're a for-profit company. Third, and related to the second, Ninite's updater costs $10 a year while Adobe Flash's built-in updater is free. They also have a Ninite Pro version that supports remote updates and installs and costs $240 to $2,220 per…

> First off, the Flash updater on Windows works quite well on modern Windows systems. Speak for yourself; I only ever see it on system startup. I only reboot once every few months (and it doesn't respond to waking up from standby), but there's a new Adobe security panic every two weeks or so, so that's not really acceptable. Plus it opens as a pop-under window for some reason, so I'm generally unaware of it until I'v…

In addition to this, the updater alway starts the default browser.. while not opening any new page.

Re: Adobe wants Ninite to stop rolling out crapware-free Flash

#84

Post by Svip »

FreezerburnV wrote: post #19
Svip wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is common on Windows. When you are on their website to install Flash, there is a tick box you need to untick to avoid installing McAfee Anti-Virus with it. It is basically like the Ask toolbar bundled with Java. If you are not paying attention - which most people don't - you'll be installing unwanted software, because so much relies on basically crappy software (Flash and Java). Actually, that makes them crap…

As a developer, I kind of take offense to the allegations of Java (and Flash as well, I suppose, it's supposed to be pretty good) being "crappy software". The JVM is actually a rather awesome piece of software which offers good performance and good garbage collection. And interesting new languages have been created and flourished on top of the JVM. (Scala, Clojure) Please know the difference between bad/customer unfr…

I apologise, I meant the Java applet; I should have been specific. I have no problem with the JVM.

Re: Adobe wants Ninite to stop rolling out crapware-free Flash

#85

Post by SeanDav »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #10

This article is a bit... lacking. First off, the Flash updater on Windows works quite well on modern Windows systems. Second off, Ninite isn't just some good Samaritan, they're a for-profit company. Third, and related to the second, Ninite's updater costs $10 a year while Adobe Flash's built-in updater is free. They also have a Ninite Pro version that supports remote updates and installs and costs $240 to $2,220 per…

Perhaps you should have disclosed your own interests before criticizing Ninite....

Re: Adobe wants Ninite to stop rolling out crapware-free Flash

#86

Post by hga »

minopret wrote: post #82

Ugh, "coalface admins". If I can hope to influence anyone's usage, I'll advise against using "coalface" as an adjective for people. I realize that a coalface is a place where a worker turns a resource into a commodity. But the word "coalface" is too much like "blackface". In fact it is used that way in regard to birds and cats. It risks distracting people with disturbing connotations, particularly here in the United…

Rather than complain about a U.K. publication's possible refusal to play the PC game, or ignorance of how coalface might be stretched to connote blackface (a word that is certainly less freighted over there), why not learn the term as the British use it, e.g.:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=coal%20face

"Originally used with reference to miners i.e those who remove coal from the 'face' of the mine, its now more commonly used to mean any work closest to the frontline

"Managers have no idea how hard it is for a sparky these days because they never have to work at the coal face.

"I love pulling apart engines. Its great to get my hands dirty at the coal face."

It's actually complementary to most of us....

Re: Adobe wants Ninite to stop rolling out crapware-free Flash

#87

Post by gcp »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #53
chrisbennet wrote: post #16

I just got so sick of the Adobe updates (and their failures to update) that I uninstalled all of it on my work machine.

Just use Chrome... Boom, Adobe is no longer your problem.

Get Ebola...Boom, AIDS is no longer your (worst) problem.

Being forced to use a specific browser hardly means "it's no longer your problem".

Re: Adobe wants Ninite to stop rolling out crapware-free Flash

#88

Post by swies »

w1ntermute wrote: post #81
DannyBee wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they can legally stop ninite from redistributing the installer using the installer license terms if they like. It's a dick move, but not illegal

But Ninite isn't redistributing the installer, is it? It's downloading it directly from Adobe's site when the user runs it, just like if the user were to manually download Flash.

That's right, we did no redistribution or modification of their software. Ninite just automates things you would do.

But, publishers can license their software under whatever terms they want. They could forbid this sort of automation in the license, or even forbid Ninite specifically by name. As far as we can tell there's no right to automate your own machine that prohibitions like that would be violating.

I think the only defense here is public backlash (thanks everyone!) and/or boycott.

Re: Adobe wants Ninite to stop rolling out crapware-free Flash

#89

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #50

Title here is wrong, the reg says "crapware-free Flash". This dash is a little thing but it does matter; it changes the meaning. I passed over this article all day, after I read the headline as "stop rolling out flash, which is crapware, free". Punctuation. It's the difference between "Let's eat, Grandma" and "Let's eat Grandma"

Update: It's been fixed now. Good, thanks.

Re: Adobe wants Ninite to stop rolling out crapware-free Flash

#90

Post by mistermumble »

astrodust wrote: post #61
tjoff wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"First off, the Flash updater on Windows works quite well on modern Windows systems." No, just no. Btw. anyone knows how to manually force flash to check for updates? And an easy way to check flash versions across all different browsers?

"Works quite well" apparently means "pops up all the time about yet another national security threatening flaw that needs to be patched urgently" and "crashes frequently for no apparent reason when trying to perform said updates." I guess that's marketing for you.

Also left unexplained is why Adobe needs to constantly update Reader. The PDF spec has not changed in forever. Why should this software need updating if there are no changes in functionality or spec compliance?
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