Mail Archives: opendos/2000/12/15/13:36:12
On Wed, 13 Dec 2000 Joe Da Silva wrote:
> Also, the PKWARE site seems to imply that their
> shareware is now adware/nagware - YUK!!!
At least the Windows "Shareware" version is. If you install it,
it will also install an ad-robot, that downloads advertisments
when you re online to show them even when you re offline.
AFAIK, PKWARE at least tells about this (there are other
companies, who don t tell you, they are using such techniques).
But even if you decide to deinstall the product, the robot still
remains active and continues its work.
Some months ago, the German computer magazine c t published
an article how to get rid of this beast again, but since I
almost never use Windows, I didn t paid enough intention to
it to reproduce it here... Sorry.
After all, Windows is more and more becoming a "playground" for
such bad habits, such as sending user profiles back into the net
(RealAudio RealPlayer, as well as some Microsoft software), giving
control to dangerous organizations like Scientology to more or less
vital parts of the system (the DiskKeeper derivative in Windows 2000
Professional), this annoying ad-ware, and other great ideas...
Privacy, what s that? What? Oh yes, sorry, I forgot, we are not
humans, we are consumers... Orwell s 1984 is long ago and forgotted,
I guess... Orwell? Who s that? We even have Big Brother shows
in commercial TV now (so I have been told)... 1984? 1933? Pah, we
are living in the 21st century! In Germany we say "Wehret den
Anfaengen!" (Very loose translation: "(Stand together and) put it
down as long as it is still possible to respond!")
I guess we have a new form of environmental pollution now, it once
started with "information pollution", but now it can almost be
characterized as "mental pollution" or "mind pollution", and if
we don t pay serious attention to it, I predict, it will sooner or
later start to *control* us.
Microsoft calls Windows an "entertainment" platform, but I must
have a very different idea of "entertainment" then... I am already
seeing Windows as advertising/merchandising platform for all this
e-commerce stuff, similar to ads in TV or radio. How boring...
Well, maybe it is meant to be entertaining, trying to get rid of the
"channel guides" or "MSN" or other things that once you cut them off
they come back again somewhere else just like a Hydra...
Adventure Windows ;->
I don t understand why the majority of users still tolerates it...
Matthias
- Raw text -