What does the 'Windows Philosophy' have to do with the decisions Oracle makes about Java anyway? Do you really think Java follows the 'Windows Philosophy'?
I don't know about philosophies, but Windows is the only OS I have used which suffers from these problems. I have never experienced this on OS X or Linux.
I don't particularly care why, just that it happens.
For one, each having fewer users should not be ignored. 90% fewer users means 90% less potential profit. That's a big number even when you aren't relying on a revenue generation model such as ads.
But not just that - also because the average user on both platforms (particularly Linux) is more computer-literate, and therefore better-capable of defending against this sort of thing.
And on the OS X side, remember that for a long time the Java run-time was distributed by Apple. The agreement to start having it be distributed by Oracle might well have included a "no crapware" provision.
On the Linux side, well, that's where all their enterprise customers live nowadays. They really do not want to piss off their enterprise customers like that.
Linux distros have great package manager and you won't get greedy crap-ware from the Open Source community.
It's a shame that Windows installers have become so bloated. The other day I've seen one with a check box labeled "I agree [to install this crap ware]" just bellow the license text. Really deceptive.
Hopefully the Windows Store will help improve that experience.
So, those companies could grow their profits by 10% by becoming cross-platform? I would think it would be much harder to tweak that installer to get 10% more conversions on Windows than to provide a Mac installer.
Also: it is revenue that they are leaving on the table, not profit. That makes this a slightly less favorable option, but still, I think a company would be stupid to keep even 5% extra revenue on the table.
I see two potential reasons why OS X does not have this problem:
- there aren't as many places to hook into the system. For example, Safari doesn't support custom toolbars (it might be possible to code something as a browser extension, but let's not wake anybody)
- the culture on both platforms is different. Windows users may moan about crap, but in general accept it; Mac users less so. See my earlier comment at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5060019
I call shenanigans.
Just because it hasn't happened to you, doesn't mean it never happens.
I found it very irritating that if you try to install iTunes on windows, it would pop up a window telling you to 'upgrade' your browser to safari.
Also, I do not think other platforms can be as plagued as Windows is, because it's a matter of culture and user expectations being driven by that culture. The size of the user base has nothing to do with it.
On Windows users wishing to get anything done resort to installing some crap, even for basic things like uncompressing an archive, watching a movie, listen to some MP3 or viewing a PDF or an Office document.
Things got better with open-source software that was ported to Windows, but considering that Windows is the dominant operating system, the ecosystem is actually kind of lame. If you want quality software, the few exceptions are some open-source apps and some products being sold by some big publishers and that's it.
I have a theory that this is because Microsoft itself encouraged piracy and bundling of crapware, while discouraging indie developers, communities and open-source.
Sounds like Windows to me.