Slashdot Mirror
AOL 9.0 Called Badware
An anonymous reader writes "The bad news at AOL keeps coming. First they get in trouble for releasing search data on more than half a million customers, then it gives away security software with a nasty EULA, now its free client software is accused of acting like badware according to Stopbadware.org, the Google-funded rating group."
So, Google technically owns like 5% of AOL, and funds stopbadware.org. So this is sort of like Sony vs. Sony, isn't it? Not directly relevant, but interesting as it shows how widespread these big Internet companies are, and how many pies they have their fingers in.
Badware Behavior
Installs additional software without disclosure (Deceptive installation)
Forces users to take an action (Interferes with computer use)
Adds AOL toolbar in Internet Explorer (Makes changes to other software without disclosure)
Adds additional icons to default Internet Explorer toolbar (Makes changes to other software without disclosure)
Adds to "Favorites" in Internet Explorer (Modifies other software without disclosure)
Adds AOL Deskbar to the user's taskbar (Modifies other software without disclosure)
Updates software automatically (Deceptive installation)
Fails to uninstall software completely (Unacceptable unistallation)
FTA:
Backed by tech companies such as Google, Lenovo Group, and Sun Microsystems
It is run out of two well-respected university departments: Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and University of Oxford's Internet Institute in the U.K.
It's not just funded by Google, and the researchers are in public departments, not privately employed ratings companies.
Android Software Engineer
I installed AOL 9.0 on a virtual machine to see for myself, and it is a seriously annoying piece of software. It takes an extra section of the taskbar for itself (about 1/5 the width of a 1024 screen). It adds an autostart tray icon and about five desktop shortcuts. I launched the program to see if I could log in with my AIM account. I got to a screen where I could log in with an existing account or register a new account, but that screen had no back or cancel. I could only kill it with task manager.
It's obviously made for newbies who need lots of handholding, and it's good that they're bundling free antivirus with AOL 9.0 because that demographic really needs it. If you want to try out free AOL 9.0 over broadband, do yourself a favor and install it in a VM. MS Virtual PC and VMWare Player are both free (beer). QEMU is Free, but you need the KQEMU module to get decent speed, and it's free (beer).