TL;DR
If the user keeps to the default installer settings and goes next, next, next... AND in Safari deliberately selects "Install" (not pre-selected) in the confirmation window, the ask.com toolbar will be installed.
If the user keeps to the default installer settings and goes next, next, next... AND in Safari deliberately selects "Install" (not pre-selected) in the confirmation window, the ask.com toolbar will be installed.
I can kind of understand some small software developers out there doing this stuff to make a few extra dollars but Oracle? It just seems so unnecessary. I guess they just can't get their head around giving something away for free.
"When you have a commercial relationship like this, not only are you dealing with your [own] corporate policies on communication, and revenue recognition and all that kind of stuff, but you also have a commercial partnership and agreement that you have to abide by and follow," said Smith during the call.
Smith also defended the practice by saying Oracle had inherited the deal when it acquired Sun Microsystems, the creator of Java, in 2010. "This is not a new business, this is not something that Oracle started," Smith said. "This is a business that Sun initiated a long time ago."
Sun had bundled third-party software with Java since at least 2005, when it offered a Google toolbar. In the following years, Sun made similar arrangements with Microsoft and Yahoo, before switching to Ask.com.
With Java, it's true our installer waits 10 minutes before running the install process, but this to ensure the JRE [Java Runtime Environment] updates properly without additional strain on a user's computer," an Ask.com spokeswoman said in an email reply to questions Monday. "This is not intended to trick users."
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2494794/malware-vulnera...
Also some desktop apps come with Java bundled together. The user just installs the app and runs it.
Installing adware with security updates is just so wrong on several points. It is difficult enough to get non-techies to install security updates and now you additionally have to teach them to watch out for crapware that someone sneaks in there.
I'm choosing C# over Java whenever I can, just because of the ask.com toolbar, seriously I find it that annoying.