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Year one: progress in the fight against Unwanted Software

googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com

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Re: Year one: progress in the fight against Unwanted Software

#21

Post by mahouse »

benplumley wrote: post #15
duncan_bayne wrote: post #4

How about all the crapware that is installed along with Android on most mobile devices these days? Any plans to do something about that?

That's not under Google's control, it's under the OEM's or (in the US) the carrier. A phone bought directly from Google (the Nexus line, Google Play edition, etc) doesn't have crapware of any kind unless you extend the definition to any app you don't personally use.

Of course it's under Google's control. "If you don't remove that crapware we don't allow you to bundle the Play Store with that phone".

Re: Year one: progress in the fight against Unwanted Software

#22

Post by mkj »

jakobegger wrote: post #11

Thank you, for your efforts, but there's still a long way to go. I occasionally need to tell non-technical users to install WinSCP. Assume someone told you to download the software from the following page: http://i.imgur.com/1HoyMWz.png Where is the ad, and where is the download link? It's better than last time I looked, since the ad is no longer a big green button labelled "download", but it is still misleading.

I had to install winscp the other day and thought the same. Perhaps time to give up on winscp.

Re: Year one: progress in the fight against Unwanted Software

#23

Post by shinratdr »

benplumley wrote: post #15
duncan_bayne wrote: post #4

How about all the crapware that is installed along with Android on most mobile devices these days? Any plans to do something about that?

That's not under Google's control, it's under the OEM's or (in the US) the carrier. A phone bought directly from Google (the Nexus line, Google Play edition, etc) doesn't have crapware of any kind unless you extend the definition to any app you don't personally use.

This simply isn't true. The Skyhook trial proved definitively that Google has the power to dictate what OEMs that ship the Google Apps suite include on their phones. Problem is, they've only ever used that ability to push their own products and services.

Re: Year one: progress in the fight against Unwanted Software

#25

Post by ocdtrekkie »

mschuster91 wrote: post #19
dhimes wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They need to go back to being quite clear about what are ads and what aren't.

The problem is that then noone would click on the ads any more

Acquiring ad clicks by deceiving people into thinking they aren't ads isn't an ethical business model.

Re: Year one: progress in the fight against Unwanted Software

#26

Post by paulddraper »

jakobegger wrote: post #11

Thank you, for your efforts, but there's still a long way to go. I occasionally need to tell non-technical users to install WinSCP. Assume someone told you to download the software from the following page: http://i.imgur.com/1HoyMWz.png Where is the ad, and where is the download link? It's better than last time I looked, since the ad is no longer a big green button labelled "download", but it is still misleading.

ninite.com

It makes upgrading them easy too.

Re: Year one: progress in the fight against Unwanted Software

#27

Post by scrollaway »

jakobegger wrote: post #11

Thank you, for your efforts, but there's still a long way to go. I occasionally need to tell non-technical users to install WinSCP. Assume someone told you to download the software from the following page: http://i.imgur.com/1HoyMWz.png Where is the ad, and where is the download link? It's better than last time I looked, since the ad is no longer a big green button labelled "download", but it is still misleading.

I keep thinking this fight is just a game of whack-a-mole. It's nice to reduce the impact but there's some really core issues with the model in the first place:

Embedding ads means embedding dynamic content from a third party server that was submitted by other people.

On top of that, Windows users having to download software off websites instead of common software being distributed through a repository doesn't help. The repository (aka "store") model has shown itself to work really well even in the mainstream, unfortunately the Windows store is atrocious.

Re: Year one: progress in the fight against Unwanted Software

#28

Post by ocdtrekkie »

dhimes wrote: post #13
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #5

About time. Based on malware cleanup work I've done in people's homes and asking how they got to them (unscientific, I know), Google AdWords seems like the primary method of malware distribution. Google has gone out of their way to make AdWords look more and more like a normal search result, and particularly among seniors, it's common to expect that first link is legitimate. It usually isn't.

They need to go back to being quite clear about what are ads and what aren't.

Honestly, the biggest and best move Google could make is to have certain categories of search results ad-free. No search result for a financial institution should include AdWords. There's too many phishing sites that get into AdWords. Same for specific download categories. If you search for "Adobe Flash Player download", you shouldn't get any results or ads that aren't adobe.com at this point.

Re: Year one: progress in the fight against Unwanted Software

#30

Post by ocdtrekkie »

benplumley wrote: post #15
duncan_bayne wrote: post #4

How about all the crapware that is installed along with Android on most mobile devices these days? Any plans to do something about that?

That's not under Google's control, it's under the OEM's or (in the US) the carrier. A phone bought directly from Google (the Nexus line, Google Play edition, etc) doesn't have crapware of any kind unless you extend the definition to any app you don't personally use.

There's two categories of bloatware, both of which Google can control:

- Google's bloatware. Google insists OEMs include like 20 Google services on every phone. Get rid of it. All of it. People want the Play Store, and if they want any other Google service, they can download it themselves.

- Third party bloatware. Google places dozens of branding and so-called 'quality' restrictions on how Android is shipped. At the very least, all pre-installed software should be uninstallable, and that's a reasonable consumer protection they could insist upon in the MADA. As another commenter said though, Google only uses the MADA to protect it's illegal monopoly, not to protect consumers.

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