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Comment by dsl | Hacker News Reader

These guys have gotten a lot of flack they don't deserve. A friend of mine builds and distributes what most people would consider "crapware" (toolbars, adware, etc.) and was flat out denied by IM when he tried to use them for distribution. Sure a bad apple or two might slip through, but according to my friend its rare to ever be denied by a distributor unless you're not willing to pay going rates.

It seems like they are working to clean up a dirty industry. Just like AdWords did to the PPC business.

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This industry sounds dirty by nature, you can't 'clean up' spammers or prostitution either. Just because a pimp won't sell his girl to just any old John, doesn't make the whole act any better. It's people in the middle trying to make money off of someone else's hard work.

It is really simple, just don't attempt to trick users into installing stuff they didn't want to download in the first place (anything outside the bundle they chose to download). Additional steps on install only take away from the user experience and taint the experience of the application you are wrapping.

To be fair, I don't think the prostitution analogy holds too well here. At least a prostitute is providing a service that there is legitimate demand for from the end user. You could also argue that one could "clean it up" by making it safer and better regulated.

A more apt analogy might be drug dealers subsidising medication by cutting it with heroin.

> To be fair, I don't think the prostitution analogy holds too well here.

I agree. That's why I often tell people that I have higher regard for prostitution than for telemarketing - the former at least provide value in response to a genuine need (whether we feel it's beneficial for society or not). Telemarketers however, just like install bundlers, actively try to exploit people.

Yeah, it was a stretch, your analogy is far better.

Well... I would like to disagree on your opinion about cleaning up prostitution. Over here in the Netherlands it seems to work just fine. If person A pays person B for doing intimate stuff that doesn't really harm anyone.

Yeah, it was an analogy that did not work and would lead off-topic here. Some people can willfully sell their body, while others have no choice (lack of education, drug addiction), it's those ones I am worried the most about.

The best way to "clean up" a dirty industry that adds no value is to starve it until it dies.

Why do you think it is impossible for it to add any value?

Why does it add value?

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