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A Gator By Any Other Name
MFS! writes "CNet reports that Gator, everyone's favorite ad software, is changing its name to Claria. Gator's CEO says "We feel that the Claria Corporation name will allow us to better communicate the expanding breadth of offerings that we provide to consumers and advertisers." He fails to mention what "Claria" is supposed to mean or how it accomplishes this goal, but it seems that the name change may be no more than an attempt to distance the company from a moniker which has become involved in allegations of spyware."
How long will it be before they start suing people for calling Claria spyware? Its inevitable. Thats what the software does. Noone wants to be advertised at, especially without their knowledge on their own computer.
We put up with commercials in TV because a TV is relatively cheap. But when most users pay 2000+$ for their computer, and then have programs installed without their knowledge with other programs, then of course the terms will be created.
Claria == Spyware (now im the first to say it)
hrrm.
We feel that the Claria Corporation name will allow us to better communicate the expanding breadth of offerings that we provide to consumers and advertisers."
Translation: "We feel that changing your name will allow us to continue our evil actions under a different alias... and continue to profit."
The CEO said "We feel that the Claria Corporation name will allow us to better communicate the expanding breadth of offerings that we provide to consumers and advertisers"...
Instead of communicate he ment to say obfuscate. Its an understandable mistake...
Crap by and another name still sticks to the bottom of your shoe and smells bad...
DJMD - The fourth man - Planetary
Excellent trick, tried by Monsanto when they were grilled for producing genetically hacked foods, favoured by nuclear power stations when they have bad leaks, and above all by tin-pot dictators who think that calling their ruined country by a new name will attract a new generation of foreign investors.
Crap is crap by any name. This kind of maneouver just confirms that they feel they have something to hide.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
Makes me think of how Philip Morris changed its name to Altria (Sounds like they are now altruistic) or how Palladium was changed to Next Generations Secure Computing Platform Whatever. (Sounds like they are trying to make your computer safe)
They don't change the business, they just try to run from their (well deserved) reputation.
He fails to mention what "Claria" is supposed to mean or how it accomplishes this goal
It just illustrates why you don't name your company after a single product line. If that product turns out to have bad side effects (like cancer or flipping SUV's over) then you need to change the company name so prospective investors and customers don't think it's the only thing you do.
Did you know Bridgestone is the parent company of Firestone? Of course you didn't. And while you would probably think twice about buying a Firestone tire for your SUV (even though it was only one model of tire involved out of Firestone's entire lineup), you wouldn't think twice about putting on a Bridgestone tire.
Likewise, if Gator wanted to come out with a second product tomorrow, they couldn't - because who would install Gator Calculator or whatever? Nobody. But who would install Claria Calculator? The same millions of users who installed Gator.
What's your damage, Heather?
(n/t)
DecafJedi
my weblog: apropos of something
claria (TM) is a registered trademark of Claria Headsets
I smell a courtaction comming up... the 'new' Claria (ex Gator, but still a bunch of evil, stinky bastards) will sue the 'old' Claria (Claria Headsets) for using their IP. ie the name Claria...
Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
Instead of renaming themselves in a pathetic attempt to remove their undeniable links with spyware, why not just stop writing spyware, and instead write a piece of software that's actually useful for something.
That way, people will download their software based on it's own merit, rather than having the new Claria spyware drive-by installed on them in the same fashion that the Gator spyware currently is.
Changing your name to disassociate yourself from your past activities is something career criminals like to do. In this case it is nothing short of a total admission of guilt.
Organic free-range music... yum!
...Changing to AirTran, will probably work for it in the short term, most people wont remember the change in the long term, and there fore the ruse will work unless they change their practices. And yes the public is that stupid.
When a brand name has become a negative influence in the decision process that make consumers use (or not) a product, a standart industry strategy is to change the brand name.
It makes all sense for them to do it. On the other hand it also shows that the Gator brand name has aquired negative associations in people's minds (or so the Gator, now Claria, corporation believes) - this is a victory of sorts for those that tried to inform people about the evils of Gator products.
To maintain the pressure on this company, a possible strategy to follow is to inform people that Claria = Gator, thus maintaining the negative association in people's minds.
PS: I suspect they paid some expensive marketing consultant that told them that "Claria" brings sub-conscious mental associations with Clarity.
Currently, there are a couple vendors that provide "remote, automated guru service". Symantec and a few antivirus vendors look for malware using a series of tests devised and constantly updated by experts, and then applied to many, many computers.
Ad-Aware searches for spyware and adware.
Windows Update searches for updates to Microsoft software.
There are websites that will scan your computer for basic remote security holes.
The problem is that there is a growing number of components that do automated guru tasks, because there isn't enough gurus, enough time, or enough money to take a guru out to each house or even work each machine remotely. People don't need to know about each field, as a result, but *do* need to be aware that such software is necessary in each field and run it/buy it/whatnot. What's needed is some (probably commercial and relatively inexpensive) comprehensive "Complete Computer Maintenance Service". It'd do automated virus checking (might do a partnership with Symantec to use their engine), look for spyware/adware, provide updates from *all* software vendors, warn about security issues with your current setup, look for common misconfigurations, warn about discontinued software that you're still using, provide simple flowchart based troubleshooting and possibly fix-it wizards (Outlook doesn't work), etc. The big benefit is that currently almost all home machines are unadministered, and this could be done quite cheaply, because it scales. Hell, OEMs could bundle service like this.
The important thing is that each machine must *never* require actual individual attention from a human being, or else costs shoot up (though perhaps optional commercial phone support could provided as a separate service). The base service should be on the order of $10/month at most. It'd keep IT costs down and keep small businesses and home systems much more maintained than they are now.
My suggestions here were somewhat Windows-centric, mostly because most current Linux folks *need* someone else administering their box, but that will probably change as well.
This is also something that "Joe Sixpack" publications like PC World could easily review ("service foo caught more problems on our ten test machines that service bar did").
Finally, a corporate version of this service could also be sold to even places that can afford in-house IT staff (one that pops up its reports on a centralized control machine in an IT center). That makes a *good* first pass for IT personnel (so they don't blow time on ordinary tasks), helps keep up on problems with specific software that no single IT guy can possibly keep up on, and makes the service money.
May we never see th
And this is why this sort of software should be called RAPEware.
Last I checked, violating someone without his/her consent, against his will, and giving him no ability to stop it when he asks to is called RAPE in the English language.
I see no reason why the term cannot apply to one's computer.
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This is a growing trend in corporate business. During industrial times companies were named after their primary product or, occasionally, the name of the founder.
General Motors, International Business Machines, etc. etc.
Now that corporations are increasingly involved in the amorphous "business" of owning each other and outsourcing, they'd rather people NOT know who they are. So brands are given memorable descriptive names, but the names of the financial entities behind them are designed to slide off the memory. Altria, Worldcom, etc.
Frankly I find this all very scary. The current nightmare future of corporations replacing governments doesn't have any Gibson-like overtness to it. People won't swear allegiance to Coca-Cola or fight for the Microsoft army. Rather the entities with all the power in the world will gradually become more and more vague and more and more distant from the popular conciousness. And not as the result of some sinsiter conspiracy, but rather the natural result of market trends.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
That's how "undertakers" became "funeral directors." That's how "trailers" became "manufactured housing." That's how "We're putting you on hold for the next decade" became "Your call is important to us."
--Dave Barry