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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.
Seems to me like this will lump them in with Ask.com and other bullshit sites that drive traffic through mostly shady means. Giving up Marissa?
Personally I'd rather have my idiots at home glued to the TV than out doing idiotic things
Gee, I'm awful glad I don't have Java on my personal machine any more.
Because the sleazy bastards running it are mostly interested in their ad revenue.
Here's a thought, guys ... how about you stop trying to change our browsers for your own benefit?
Java is dying under the stewardship of Oracle. The sooner the better.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
That's the right word.
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.
The real news here is that Java is now officially crapware.
My first program:
Hell Segmentation fault
That's not the point, there's a legal issue here. Actually, it's settled case law: opt outs are illegal. End of argument. The checkbox should default to clear (ie the default search engine should NOT be changed because someone forgot to uncheck the box).
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
maybe try turning safe search back on and not searching with such ambiguous keyword combinations as "giant cock"?
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Mac does have Java if you need it.
Windows doesn't come with Java by default.
--
The world is divided in two categories:
those with a loaded gun and those who dig. You dig.
You obviously have not had to install Java recently. They have been bundling the Ask Toolbar (checked by default, and also making Ask your default search provider) for the last few years.
Honestly, bundling Yahoo is a step up - or at worst sideways. But, it is still criminal that this kind of crapware is enabled by default, preying on the novice users who are not savvy enough to un-check it.
If Java tries to change by default search engine to Yahoo, one of my 27 toolbars will quickly change it back to Ask.com
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
Default installations of OS X don't have Java anymore, which is why your link exists in the first place.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
maybe try turning safe search back on and not searching with such ambiguous keyword combinations as "giant cock"?
Have you used Google lately? A couple of years ago they began to also search for "similar" words, including abbreviations and acronyms. Which, depending on the subject, can lead to totally off-topic results. E.g. https://www.google.de/search?q=Wisconsin+Tourism+Federation - WTF indeed. Their search-by-data is also often useless (esp. when looking for older stuff), because most sites now include links to current articles even on ancient pages, which of course drown out the actual content.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
You're probably searching on Yahoo.
No, java is something that people want/need which is supplied with bundled crapware that you have to remember to opt out of.
What TFA doesn't make clear is whether this new yahoo thing will be instead of the ask toolbar bundling or in addition to it.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
Chrome won't run Java anymore. Soon IE won't either.
What exactly are they trying to accomplish here?
It is significantly different. The difference between op-in and op-out is massive.
When you cant win, ad hominem.
It is an evil practice born of corporate interests, just because it could be evilier does not mean we should turn a blind eye to it.
I got so fed up of Adobe loading their updates will crapware like McAfee that I stopped installing it altogether. Likewise I've avoided other products which have started bundling stuff in their installers. I'm sure Oracle are compensated for promoting Yahoo from their installer but the reputational damage will suffer could be immense.
Firefox cut a deal with Yahoo too, not because Yahoo is a better search engine for their users, either because Yahoo gave Firefox money or, well, why else would they do it? http://www.dispatch.com/conten...
What sucks is Yahoo sucks. I didn't even notice the browser change by the logo, but I did notice it when it gave bad search results. Changed back to Google, and results were accurate again.
Yahoo, you are the RealPlayer of the search world. File Chapter 5.
Apologist alert. So if you "voluntarily" choose to engage me to mount new tires on your car, does that mean you don't mind if I install a tracking device in cooperation with the NSA, if you fail to spot the tiny pre-checked box on page 678 of the paperwork? Because everyone should EXPECT tracker installation when they "voluntarily" choose to install new tires, right?
But it's still evil. Okay, so there's a way to avoid it - nice. It's still a dick move to reconfigure the user machine like this.
My machine has a default for a reason. I've set that default based on my preference. That you're changing my preference based on a totally unrelated action is a dick move. That you're changing it based on a required action is a double dick move. Java updates are *not optional* if you want to stay secure.
Once software reaches this stage it's clearly a failed business venture. What next? We could always ship Java with malware to tap into some of those botnet dollars? How about we ship it with backdoors? How about shipping it with a keylogger? Is there anything else you'd like to ship it with?
Fuck Java. I'll use C++, thanks.
Let's say you've moved into an apartment because it was close to your work. Every time they come over for quarterly inspections or to fix an issue you've reported, they mess up your toilet so it'll overflow next time you use it - unless you remember to specifically opt-out by asking them not to do that.
This space intentionally left blank
EU Directive 2002/58 on Privacy and Electronic Communications deals with this, as does the maxim "Silence or lack of objection does not imply informed consent", to paraphrase Munby LJ in G (R on the application of) v Nottingham City Council [2008] EWHC 400 (Admin), para. 56.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Which, depending on the subject, can lead to totally off-topic results
What is off-topic about those results?
The organisation in question's website - which is no longer called the Wisconsin Tourism Federation - comes second in the list, and only because you've used google.de. Use its new name, or use google.com, and it comes top.
Seems like it's working perfectly to me.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
No, they're having the box checked by default - you have to absolutely ask them to not shit on your floor.
That is all.
Of course I want to use a search provider that has to hijack my browser to gain any significant marketshare. Why would I want to use the search engine that works best for me, when Oracle can choose a shittier one for me?
Nothing posted to
Adobe tries to slip in MacAfee on you when you download their pdf reader.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
If you try to access google.com from Germany, it automatically redirects you to google.de.
If you want the "original" Google from abroad, you need to type google.com/ncr.
This link should work the same all over the world :
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd...
.
imo, anyone who blindly accepts the default installer options gets the malware they deserve.
How long have you known about Yahoo's deal with Oracle. Forever? Or is this recent? If it's recent, it is news by definition.
But more likely, you just consider that you are above accidentally installing a toolbar. That's good, but not everyone is. I've had computers to "fix" when people couldn't access their "Facebook" (their name for the entire internet and their browser). Fire up IE, and the screen is toolbars from top to bottom.
In an effort to help them, it's really nice to know where they got the problem from. So you can help them avoid calling you back in 6 months with a similar problem. Tell them what to look out for.
See how that works? Recent happening, and helps some of us do our work. News.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
If you're going to include an obscure technology like Java in the article. Could you please explain what it is?
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
In Windows, use the Java Control Panel and select the "Advanced" tab.
At the very bottom of the list, completely out-of-sight unless you scroll aaaaaaal the way down, in a category called "Beware of the Leopard"... no, sorry, I meant "Miscellaneous"... there's a checkbox labeled "Suppress sponsor offers when installing or updating Java".
Of course, by default it's not checked. Because money.
But check it and apply or "OK" the settings change. In the current implementation, this prevents bundling the Ask.com malware with Java upgrades -- it's a pre-opt-out, and you never have to think of it again. (At least, until Oracle decides the option should auto-magically unset itself when the user's not looking. Because money.)
Assuming this option continues to exist in future Oracle Java versions and is honored for the Yahoo tie-in, this would alleviate the pre-opt-in crapware issue. Big assumptions, of course, because Oracle.
(Or alternately, don't install Java if you don't actually need it. Or install OpenJava rather than Oracle's.)
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
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.
Does this mean that Oracle will be producing a Java plugin thats compatible with Chrome???
Aside from the issues of self-signed certificates and strict requirements on whitelisting this might actually make it possible for me to use Chrome to do my job (which involves connecting to remote KVM/iDRAC/ILO systems which require a Java client).
Otherwise, yeah no way Oracle, no one is going to install Java any more if they are using Chrome and don't really REALLY need Java (in which case they'll use a different browser).
In other words, if Oracle doesn't produce a non-NPAPI plugin, then client side Java will be in the wastebasket of history soon; its only a matter of time before its no longer supported in other browsers than Chrome.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Some useful open source projects are written in Java, like DavMail and ADTPro.
Yes, because tricking people and manipulating their settings without their full acknowledgement is a sure fire way to gain brand loyalty. Idiots.
In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Does anyone know if there exists, or can we start, a project like this:
(1) They distribute binaries for Windows (32-bit and 64-bit). Other platforms would be awesome, too, but Linux already has great OpenJDK support in package managers, so that may not even be necessary. Windows is the platform where it really sucks.
(2) They have a custom-designed updater that schedules itself to run every so often (say, every 2 weeks); launches; checks for an update; and then *EXITS* if it doesn't find one. If it does find one, it gives the user a simple "Yes/No/Ask Later" prompt: if they pick Yes, it'll silently remove the old OpenJDK version and install the new one; if they pick "No" it'll skip that version and only remind them when the next update comes out; and it'll bug them next week if they click "Ask Later". Once it finishes whatever it has to do, it EXITS, rather than remaining in virtual memory forever like the Oracle Java updater.
(3) No adware. All components free and open source software. Installer should only depend on FOSS (no InstallShield, etc.).
(4) Gives user the option to enable/disable Java plugins for each browser detected to be installed on the system, at install-time, and can be configured after install via a config GUI. Default should be to NOT install the Java plugins, since they have had a history of severe vulnerabilities, but users are free to request their installation anyway.
(5) Installer should come in two forms: a "net installer" that has a tiny size (1 MB or less) and only downloads the requested components at runtime (allowing user to select whether they want the source code, the JDK or just the JRE, etc.), and an "offline installer" that contains the entire kitchen sink and does not need Internet connectivity (for environments behind a restrictive proxy, or no network connection).
(6) User should have the option to install OpenJDK without admin rights! If they don't have admin rights, stick it in AppData\Local and put the plugins in a similarly user-scoped folder (not possible with IE as far as I know, but should work with Chrome and Firefox). Auto-detect whether the user can be an admin, and only give the UAC prompt if the user's account can actually accept the prompt; otherwise, fall back to "non-admin" install.
Gee, sounds like if nothing like this exists, I have the requirements / design doc in my head...
If I disappear in my room for a week and don't emerge until this thing is on github, tell my family and my cat that I love them.
When people ask me to help them get java working I say no bloody way. My simple theory is that Java in the enterprise might be a good thing but java on the home machine is just asking for trouble. To me Java has a perfect storm of people not wanting it. First is that Java must be regularly updated to keep it safe. But I don't trust these updates to not screw me over in some fashion, either through malware such as this or simply popping up at an inconvenient time. For instance I am often recording video tutorials. There is nothing worse than some software update popup showing up in the middle. Especially if it is one of these focus grabbing popups. But the java update is a total bastard as it keeps turning itself back on after I keep turning it off.
So I basically danced around my office when I read that chrome and firefox were pretty much killing Java as an extension/addon.
But adding malware to their install just makes me laugh at how stupid these MBAs are. Yes in the next few quarters they will make lots of money. But how many quarters before people will have significantly reduced their downloads?
Also for Yahoo, I hate Ask.com for their trashy approach to getting users. Make a great product and then people might come. Fooling them into coming is just scummy. So now people will lump Yahoo in with the various sites that over the years have tried to use deception as their marketing tool.
For those of you out there all touchy about Java, my comments are not about the Java language, but the java product.
I think we're missing the real story here.
The article is suggesting that Java update _actually works_ and is capable of _updating Java_.
I can't remember the last time that was true.
No, they're having the box checked by default - you have to absolutely ask them to not shit on your floor.
And they're a lot like my dog - you might ask them not to, but they'll probably do it anyway.
#DeleteChrome
Since they love offering ads with their installers, why not just save time and effort and have SF wrap the installers for them?
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft]
"SPONSORS"="DISABLE"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\JavaSoft]
"SPONSORS"="DISABLE"
The screen with the checkboxes does not even appear.