Today I installed a free firewall on my Windows 7 Beta test machine. I have used Zone Alarm (both free and paid-for) for some years, but this didn't want to play with Win7. So I looked for another offering to kill two birds with one stone - test Win7 and test a new (to me) firewall. I settled on Comodo to supply my needs. Installation went smoothly and quickly. No, I didn't want the Internet Security features installing. Yes, I wanted the firewall. A few seconds later the installation was complete. Great!
But hold on, what's this? Do I want to install the Comodo Safe Search Toolbar, powered by Ask? No I don't. If I wanted a toolbar I would download one of my own choosing. So why is Comodo including this in their otherwise excellent piece of software? More to the point, why is the option to install the toolbar checked by default?
Obviously it all comes down to money. Install the toolbar and Ask will pay Comodo. Then Ask will get revenue from the sponsored links program. A win-win situation? Not at all, it's a win-win-lose situation, the loser being the user who inadvertently (or through inexperience) accepts the toolbar during installation. Whether the toolbar is good or bad is not the point, it's the principle of foisting anything unrelated to the software package on the user. If this sort of 'addon' is to be included in the package then at least have the decency to leave the default setting to 'opt out'.
It has come to my notice that other packages have adopted this ploy of including a toolbar in a package that should be dedicated to one purpose only, whether that be antivirus, firewall protection, cleaning or whatever. Others who include the Ask! toolbar include Symantec, AVG Free and Zone Alarm Free, while CCleaner includes the Yahoo! toolbar. This saddens me, not least because the free offerings from these companies are meant to provide a trusted service to users whilst encouraging them to upgrade to the paid version. Including a toolbar would only serve to encourage me not to upgrade.
Bill Pytlovany of WinPatrol fame has restored my faith in this respect by his blog on this subject when asked to include other 'features' in his own software:
"This may not be the best business decision I’ve ever made but I can live with myself."
As you say, Bill, it may not be the best business decision financially but your supporters and users respect you for it. Kudos, my friend!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment