Comments on: Good companies sometimes release bad applications http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2006/08/30/good-companies-sometimes-release-bad-applications/ From the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:34:17 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5.2 hourly 1 By: Ed Hardy http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2006/08/30/good-companies-sometimes-release-bad-applications/comment-page-1/#comment-91997 Ed Hardy Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:42:06 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2006/08/30/good-companies-sometimes-release-bad-#comment-91997 aol sucks aol sucks

]]> By: jonny564 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2006/08/30/good-companies-sometimes-release-bad-applications/comment-page-1/#comment-3606 jonny564 Sat, 16 Dec 2006 02:11:36 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2006/08/30/good-companies-sometimes-release-bad-#comment-3606 jonny904 jonny904

]]> By: jonny124 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2006/08/30/good-companies-sometimes-release-bad-applications/comment-page-1/#comment-3307 jonny124 Wed, 06 Dec 2006 17:22:54 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2006/08/30/good-companies-sometimes-release-bad-#comment-3307 jonny773 jonny773

]]> By: Karl Auerbach http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2006/08/30/good-companies-sometimes-release-bad-applications/comment-page-1/#comment-2018 Karl Auerbach Sat, 16 Sep 2006 23:28:53 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2006/08/30/good-companies-sometimes-release-bad-#comment-2018 A couple of quick comments: 1. You might want to use one of the virtual machine monitors (such as VMware's free server) to create a pristine Windows environment that you can snapshot, use as a sandbox, and then restore to pristine state. I have found that to be a very useful method, and one that saves an amazing amount of time. 2. I don't know if you consider it "badware" but I came across a "End User License Agreement" that did not license anything. Instead it made the user an employee of the company offering the service! I realized this when they sent a follow-up confirming e-mail that confirmed that I had not only become an employee but had waived several Federal employment protections, such as parts of COBRA end ERISA!! And all I thought I was doing was getting a password so that I could look at the benefits from my real employeer. (I'll send you a copy of the click-through EULA if you are intererested.) A couple of quick comments:

1. You might want to use one of the virtual machine monitors (such as VMware’s free server) to create a pristine Windows environment that you can snapshot, use as a sandbox, and then restore to pristine state. I have found that to be a very useful method, and one that saves an amazing amount of time.

2. I don’t know if you consider it “badware” but I came across a “End User License Agreement” that did not license anything. Instead it made the user an employee of the company offering the service! I realized this when they sent a follow-up confirming e-mail that confirmed that I had not only become an employee but had waived several Federal employment protections, such as parts of COBRA end ERISA!! And all I thought I was doing was getting a password so that I could look at the benefits from my real employeer. (I’ll send you a copy of the click-through EULA if you are intererested.)

]]> By: Info/Law » Badware, Bossiness, and Bundling http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2006/08/30/good-companies-sometimes-release-bad-applications/comment-page-1/#comment-1962 Info/Law » Badware, Bossiness, and Bundling Sat, 02 Sep 2006 16:59:36 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2006/08/30/good-companies-sometimes-release-bad-#comment-1962 [...] John Palfrey, Executive Director of the Berkman Center, has an engaging and illuminating post about the StopBadware project’s warning concerning AOL downloads (which I discussed here). It’s worth reading the whole post, which explores how, as his title says, “good companies sometimes release bad applications.” He goes through his own frustrating experience testing out the AOL software. Then he notes that, even if AOL fixed some of the most serious problems they documented, related to failure to disclose programs and difficulty uninstalling them, another problem would remain: Would it then add up to Badware, if all of these programs were disclosed and the user could go through and take them all off? Nah. But still pretty annoying? You bet. And is the average user likely to go all the way through this process of informing themselves and then uninstalling all these programs, loads of reboots, etc.? Honestly, I don’t think so. But let’s be clear: this is not just an AOL problem — it’s instead an industry issue, one related to bundling of applications. Do users really want this level of simplicity? Maybe. But maybe users deserve more credit: maybe users really do want to take the easy route OR to be able to install a subset of those applications. Maybe it’s possible within AOL 9.0, but I sure couldn’t find it. [...] [...] John Palfrey, Executive Director of the Berkman Center, has an engaging and illuminating post about the StopBadware project’s warning concerning AOL downloads (which I discussed here). It’s worth reading the whole post, which explores how, as his title says, “good companies sometimes release bad applications.” He goes through his own frustrating experience testing out the AOL software. Then he notes that, even if AOL fixed some of the most serious problems they documented, related to failure to disclose programs and difficulty uninstalling them, another problem would remain: Would it then add up to Badware, if all of these programs were disclosed and the user could go through and take them all off? Nah. But still pretty annoying? You bet. And is the average user likely to go all the way through this process of informing themselves and then uninstalling all these programs, loads of reboots, etc.? Honestly, I don’t think so. But let’s be clear: this is not just an AOL problem — it’s instead an industry issue, one related to bundling of applications. Do users really want this level of simplicity? Maybe. But maybe users deserve more credit: maybe users really do want to take the easy route OR to be able to install a subset of those applications. Maybe it’s possible within AOL 9.0, but I sure couldn’t find it. [...]

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