I hate it when companies try to change my system’s defaults. It’s a messy world out there. Andy Beal warns people about Yahoo’s latest stuff.
OK, I’m outta here for the weekend. I am keeping the link blog up to date, though. That’s how I found this warning from Andy. Thanks!
Advertisement:
Scobleizer Archives 
Google Reader Shared Items
Twitter Feed 
Tech Events Calendar 
Travel Schedule 
Daily Calendar 
Photos on Flickr 
Join my group on FastCompany.com 
About Me 
RSS Feed
|
Robert Scoble works at Fast Company.TV (title: Managing Director). Everything here, though, is his personal opinion and is not read or approved before it is posted. No warranties or other guarantees will be offered as to the quality of the opinions or anything else offered here.
rscoble@fastcompany.com
+1-425-205-1921
Powered By WordPress
January 12th, 2007 at 10:06 am
May be you didn’t notice it, but the Google warning in that same article is no better than Yahoo. Whenever something bundles Google Toolbar, I have to make sure Google is not stealing my preferences.
January 12th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Yahoo IM always attempted to download a lot of crap, through genereations - but if you were alert enough you could find where to uncheck the defaults.
The latest update did not give me the option (at least I haven’t found it), so I got the Yahoo toolbar installed on IE7 - which I happen to have installed, even though the default is FirefoX.
But don’t think Yahoo is alone, look at how Google’s referral program now bundles Picasa into Google Pack.
January 12th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Everybody does something like this it seems (not that it makes it right).
Every time I get a new version of Quicktime from Apple it forces me to download and install Itunes — no option (which I then have to remove because I don’t want it and and don’t want it running — at least the option to remove it separately exists).
I am always offended (somehow this seems close to installing spyware) — but I usually hold my nose and let it happen — doesn’t make it less smelly, just lets me get on with my existence.
January 12th, 2007 at 10:34 am
All the more reason use Live.com I guess. Or was that just a shameless plug?
January 12th, 2007 at 10:40 am
I can understand setting yahoo as the default search provider. But why change the def browser to IE? interesting…
January 12th, 2007 at 10:56 am
I need to ask: What think about Chávez (to me is an ass hole…). I need to know, because he always is talking against EEUU and the american… I’m chilean and recently he says, against Insulza (general secretary of te OEA, and chilean too) that he is a “pendejo”…
Please, tell me…
Greetings, Thank!
January 12th, 2007 at 11:01 am
@4 - Zer0Mass,
yes, it was shameless.
Guy
January 12th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
[...] saw this warning in this post today on Scoble’s [...]
January 12th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Earlier this week I was frustrated with Yahoo IM. It bugged me into updating it. I did. It installed a firefox plugin that I couldn’t uninstall… I did disable it from firefox but it is still there. And the new YIM has a bunch of banners that I can’t find where to hide. If you ask me, YIM has become adware!
January 12th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
This makes me so glad I’m a Linux user. Software companies are getting bolder by the year. This would infuriate me.
Here’s my take for users. If you are not a gamer and don’t HAVE to have MS or Apple software, switch to Linux. Linux is desktop ready and has been for awhile now. Yes, the switch is a little cumbersome, but anyone can do it with little to no knowledge of Linux. I run Ubuntu and it’s easy to use, simple, and elegant in design and feel. No virus worries and no spyware worries since you have to have root access to install anything. No drive-by downloading worries.
I really wish that people who didn’t have special software needs would take a look at Linux. In any case, almost any software with the exception of games can be found in Linux — and for free (as in beer and freedom). Why pay for software. Software is like sex — it’s better when it’s free.
http://www.ubuntu.com/
January 12th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Just as a response to Brian Sullivan - I checked the Apple QuickTime web site and the option to download QuickTime on its own (without iTunes) is shown very clearly.
Admittedly it never used to be, Apple have thankfully changed it. Not something that bothers me personally since I use both but I can imagine it being annoying to someone who only uses QT and not iTunes.
January 12th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Did anyone bother verifying the facts before giving that page linkjuice and running on TechMeme?
Has anyone reproduced the reported behavior? As far as I can tell, the guy who reported this is now saying that he isn’t sure what he did. If you deliberately download and install the Yahoo customized version of IE7, it sets your search engine to Yahoo — if you download the Google customized version of IE7 it sets your searchg engine to Google. They’ve both been doing that for a long time.
I’m glad everyone got to talk about how much they love this or that OS, company, or browser — but this seems like a fact-free story. And Peter, “free” isn’t always free (talking about love, of course).
January 12th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Joshua: for my part, no, I didn’t. Andy Beal has been highly reliable in the past, though, so I thought the story was worth linking to.
Blogs can be wrong and I’ll check it out more.
January 12th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
“I checked the Apple QuickTime web site and the option to download QuickTime on its own (without iTunes) is shown very clearly.”
That may be true — but I just download via QT’s automatic update not the website — never go there– no option in the auto update. I will go to the website though — maybe that will rid me of this thing on every update.
January 12th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
[...] Original post by Comments for Scobleizer - Tech Geek Blogger [...]
January 12th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
This is the one thing that infuriates me the most. Search/Software companies packaging extra software on your machine. If you download flash,acrobat, and shockwave, and you do a typical install you will have 2 toolbars on your browser. Yahoo and Google. Unless you tweak around and do custom settings. I am so (insert expletive here) tired of seeing ignorant users have 3 to 4 toolbars loaded on their browsers. What is so (insert expletive here) important that a user has to have your toolbar/adware/malware installed. This is why I hate google and yahoo both. Live will get my ire soon enough I am sure. They too have their own F***ING toolbar as FU***** well. Scoble….if you get a chance go interview Google, Yahoo, and Live for us and ask why in the HELL they keep this crap up. Do they think by hiding the software they are helping the consumer? Sounds like God (cover your ears) viral marketing to me…..in the original sense of the word….Maybe a good idea if the company is being honest is to have an opt-in instead of a hidden opt-out. Then again that would be too much trouble wouldn’t it.
January 12th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
@12 “Did anyone bother verifying the facts before giving that page linkjuice and running on TechMeme?”
Joshua, since this is Scoble’s blog you are reading, can I assume that was a rhetorical question?
January 13th, 2007 at 4:20 am
Good thing Google works hard to catch up yahoo with the crap it continously spills at us.
January 13th, 2007 at 6:45 am
@ 16:
You hit the bullseye. Search/software companies have no business embedding their spyware in other downloads. But, unfortunately, these companies will do almost anything to make a buck. If a company needs to make money so badly they embed software in another companies software, they shouldn’t be in business.
Whatever happened to simplicity? The fact the internet is so commercialized makes it suck more and more each year.
Perfect Internet:
* No ads of ANY kind except on the manufacturers page
* No pop-ups/unders/overs of ANY kind except on manufacturers page
I want to see content only, nothing else.
January 13th, 2007 at 7:52 am
I don’t run, nor will I ever run Yahoo Messenger so I can’t and won’t check. But commenter #12 has a good point; there was little factchecking before this turned into the next linkfest.
Then again, both Google and Yahoo (and others) bundle their lame-ass toolbar with various products (and this is the part that annoys) by default they are marked ‘yes, install this’. The average user will (as they know damned well) just blithely click next, next, finish and then wonder where that toolbar came from, since they were installing some totally different software.
Then again again, no sane OS should allow these changes to be made without warning.
January 13th, 2007 at 8:43 am
@ 20:
Goog points, especially where you noted “no sane OS should allow these changes to be made without warning”.
I agree. These software comapnies know FULL WELL that the average person does not understand fully what is happening. Yes, people should read. BUT… having it checked as the default is evil. They should, instead, ask the user prominently, if they want to install additional software.
Use Linux. This doesn’t happen.
I don’t trust commercial software. It has an agenda to make money, even at the expense of its users. Free software is just as good/better and you never have to worry about lame software installing behind your back.
For example, I use the Epiphany browser, which uses the Gecko rendering engine. I get the same speed as Firefox, the same available features, but no lame spyware toolbars which phone home to the greedy corporate masters.
Toolbars are inherently evil. Don’t even tell me that they don’t phone home because I’ve done enough tcpdumps and traffic monitoring to know better. They say they cannot get revealing ID information from the users, but that is patently false.
If you are a Yahoo/Google, etc. user and you provide those companies with sign-up credentials (name, address) which is stupid of the users, and they have toolbars installed or you search while logged in, not only do they have your name, address, IP address, etc. but tied to their lame, evil cookies, they can and do track you. Don’t think for a second that there are certain interested parties to this information.
WARNING: Never surf while logged into Yahoo or Google unless you want everyone to know what you are interested in. It’s none of their business. It’s easy to add a proxy server to your browser settings and remain somewhat anonymous. It doesn’t impact your internet connection speed and provides a modicum of protection. I recommend an HTTPS proxy. There are plenty of free ones out there.
January 13th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
[...] I don’t mind if I know and then things don’t work its the not telling me that gets me, Robert Scoble agrees. Nor did the upgrade leave my system in the state it was before the upgrade, sharing turn off and a [...]
January 14th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
This reminds of so many similar softward/adware/add-on issues. That Java and IE 7 are no longer playing friendly is also a world of frustration.
January 14th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Thanks for the link. I have mailed it to my more tech-savvy son.
January 15th, 2007 at 12:59 am
i hate yahoo. i hate microsoft.
January 15th, 2007 at 6:48 am
This whole changing your system preferences thing has happened for a looooong time - especially with media players. Seems like whenever you have to install RealPlayer, Windows Media player, or the like you have to change the file association settings, else they take over your entire system (at least in terms of media playback settings).
It’s bugged the heck out of me ever since Real started doing it, and apparently it’s not going to stop any time soon. It’s ****ing annoying, and I’m disappointed that big name companies like Google and Yahoo! are now resorting to it.
January 15th, 2007 at 8:05 am
@19, Peter, that might happen shortly after you watch a Nascar race without any billboards around the track, and all the cars are a single color, the driver’s wear plain gray jumpsuits, etc…
Advertising is here to stay.
January 16th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Same thing happend to me when I installed Yahoo messenger.
January 21st, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Ok, while we are on the subject of Ymessy, I have it installed and works fine. Maybe a little to fine. I have received several messages from comod firewall telling me yahoo is trying to invisably connect while it is NOT running. What the Heck is this about? Anyone?
Mike
February 1st, 2007 at 3:46 am
Since no one else mentioned it, I’ll say that the original linked post has been updated. Turns out that Y! does not install IE7 along with Messenger. Messenger comes with the option to install the Yahoo! Toolbar checked by default - a practice that Google and anyone else that offers a suite of products regularly employs. Yahoo! Toolbar adds tabs to IE6 so that it ends up looking like IE7 (well, a little bit at least). The bozo who posted this in the first place never bothered to thoroughly check what happened before ranting to the blogosphere. So did Yahoo! do anything out of the ordinary? No. Did Yahoo! do anything that Google doesn’t also do? No. While I’m not a big fan of software that installs other software, it happens all over the industry. That’s why I NEVER select the Default Install option - always better to take an extra minute to make sure I know what’s going on my machine.