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The Next Java Update Could Make Yahoo Your Default Search Provider
itwbennett writes: At the company's shareholder meeting on Wednesday, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced a partnership with Oracle that could result in Yahoo becoming your default search provider in your browser. Starting this month, when users are prompted to update to the next version of Java, they'll be asked to make Yahoo their default search engine on Chrome (and Internet Explorer, for what it's worth). And, according to a Wall Street Journal report, the button will be checked by default, so if you aren't looking out for it, you might unwittingly find yourself a Yahoo user.
Oracle, and other company's, opt out crapware installs is one reason that we install Unchecky on all customer's PC's that we service since almost everyone had Ask toolbars, but had no idea how it got installed. This will help the less aware customers avoid crud buildup in their systems, no thanks to a-hole companies like Oracle.
Chrome won't run Java anymore. Soon IE won't either.
What exactly are they trying to accomplish here?
Java was dying under the stewardship of Sun. Sun were the ones who installed the ask.com toolbar. Oracle got Java 7 out in 18 months after it having been stalled for six years. Stop FUDing. They also got out Java 8, which is the most vibrant and advanced Java release ever.
Microsoft started flagging the Ask toolbar as malware recently in Windows Defender, and automatically removing it. They did so because the Ask toolbar changes your default search provider without asking. Seems like if they made the Java installer do that too, the entire installer would be flagged as malware by Microsoft.
Could be interesting.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I like Linux. I run Linux at home. But I make my living putting up with Windows.
If all anti-virus softwares started to list any installer with an "Opt-Out" procedure as "Potentially Unwanted Program Installer" it would put an end to the habit of pushing shit down the throat of users.
The problem is not so much people competent with tech as people that don't know left from right on computers and just clicks "Ok". They suffer from all that crap like a new browser installed as well as changed homepages and search providers and then they scream that they don't understand their computer.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
As a professional developer who has led a number of fairly large scale Java projects I've always just accepted the existence of Java on my computer, it's a thing I've worked with so it's a thing I need. Or so my default thinking always went.
But the last time Java asked for permission to update on my computer at home there appeared to no longer be an obvious way of avoiding the Ask toolbar install. I had a choice of next, or cancel which cancelled the whole installation. I was getting fed up of it anyway, given that it seemed to be persistently asking to update every time I went to my computer anyway.
Java, therefore is gone from my home computer and I will no longer consider it for any spare time projects. This has the knock on effect that it's reduced in desirability for me as an option when determining what technology to use for new commercial projects at work too. If I have a choice between Java + Ask, or no Java, it's not really a difficult choice for me.
So for me, Yahoo can stick whatever they want on it, but under Oracle's stewardship it's going to end up a dying product. For some reason, Yahoo seems incredibly intent on consistently tying itself up with losers. Instead of continuously wasting money backing losers, they should probably just spend what needs to be spent on backing a winner for once.
I like Java as a technology, and a language - hell, I've posted enough times here defending it, but when the client distribution forces the installation of malware like Ask, it's pretty much a dead end for anything desktop based. You can't as a professional insist your clients install something that tries to bundle malware to use your product with a serious face, it's just not tenable. It'd be one thing if it was just a one off question you could say no to on initial installation, but the frequent updates often mean it can be an attempt to force it on you multiple times a week in some cases. It hopes that in just one of those cases, you'll forget to untick the checkbox and accidentally install, well, obviously that hoping was fruitless, because now there just is no checkbox to untick.
I understand that with command line switches you can tell Java to skip that crap, and that there are options to automate installation without it in corporate environments but frankly in the end it's just easier to not install Java in the first place unless you simply have no choice.
I can't say I've missed it one bit, I can't remember the last time I needed it for anything at home. So my "I need that because I work with it" attitude has changed to "Why did I ever put up with all those incessant update nag screens for years". I've got better things to do than play the "try and remember to avoid installing malware because Java wants to update" game every time I sit down at my computer.
I've never actually had it successfully UPDATE. I've always had to uninstall whatever version I have and download the full installer myself. I'm at the point where I pretty much don't install it except when I need it....and uninstall it a week or so later when I'm done running it.
Also, Bing has gotten so much better. I use it about as much as I use Google. It's not like it once was. That being said, I've never had Windows Update change my search settings.....probably something else did it.
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imo, anyone who blindly accepts the default installer options gets the malware they deserve.
On Yahoo Email, there are mandatory ad emails showing on top and one cannot delete those.
If you click on one under Firefox, a link opens but is blocked.
Looks the more BS they produce the more desperate they get and produce even more crap.
Digging their own grave it seems.
Maybe it has to do with the "upper crust people" beeing control freaks and out of touch with reality when things don't go like they should in their minds.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft]
"SPONSORS"="DISABLE"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\JavaSoft]
"SPONSORS"="DISABLE"
The screen with the checkboxes does not even appear.