Mike Healan
http://www.spywareinfo.com
I am really sad about this situation. It's like idolizing the local high school quarterback as being the perfect role model. He is clean cut and honest; he is smart and friendly; and parents point their younger children to him as someone to emulate. Then, one day, you are behind him in a supermarket and watch as he pockets a pack of cigarettes and walks out without paying for them. It reduces him in your mind, and the image of him as a role model is shattered.
It is always a big let down when someone you consider to be one of the good guys does something that is clearly and unmistakably wrong. You feel as if they have betrayed you somehow. I and many others feel this way now about Google.
Google always has been one of the good guys. They are a powerful company with tremendous clout, and yet the company is made up of a relatively small number of programming geeks, not aging corporate drones with nothing but the bottom line on the agenda. The people at Google aren't in business to exploit their users and squeeze every possible drop of income out of them.
While every other search engine rakes in the dough by selling their top search results to the highest bidder, Google refuses to display a paid search result unless it is kept separate and is labeled clearly as an advertisement. Google hates pop up ads, and has gone so far as to include a very well done pop up blocker in their newest toolbar.
These days, almost every single toolbar that is released gathers and sends user browsing and search information to the toolbar's maker so they can target ads at them. Google's toolbar also collects the browsing habits of its users, but only if they enable the Page Rank feature deliberately. There is a very clear warning that the user's browsing history will be sent to Google, and Google lets the user decide if they want that to happen.
Unlike other toolbars, this information gathering is used only to make Google a better, more accurate search engine, not to target advertisements at the user. Google doesn't even make money from the information they collect, except indirectly by making their service better. Can CommonName say that? Can NewDotNet say it? How about Search-Explorer?
Sadly, Google has taken a page from the book read by the bad guys. Their wonderful toolbar has gone rogue in the last several versions. Google Toolbar 2.0 includes an update function that checks Google's servers for updates, downloads those updates, and installs them automatically. This is all done with no user participation. That in itself is fine. However, the Google toolbar doesn't allow you to disable this.
From the Google Toolbar FAQ:
http://toolbar.google.com/faq.html#version
How can I learn when a new version is available?
The Google Toolbar automatically updates itself when a new version is available. This may not happen immediately, but it will eventually. If you learn that there's a new version out and you've just got to have it, you can reinstall the toolbar to make sure you're driving the latest model. (You may need to uninstall first, though this shouldn't normally be necessary.)
This is unacceptable. It doesn't matter that it is one of the good guys doing this. It is unethical to install software on a machine without the owner's permission, and it is even more unethical to do it without their knowledge.
The reasons for requiring the updater not be disabled are irrelevant. People spend thousands of dollars on their computers and should not be at risk of the latest and greatest version of someone's software installing itself silently and destroying their system due to an unexpected conflict.
What goes through a software developers head when he decides that he will make the decision to update his users' software, regardless of the users' wishes? Why does he deliberately program his software to deny his users the ability to decide for themselves when to upgrade? That shows nothing but contempt and disrespect for the people using his software.
There are countless reasons why someone would want to stay with a slightly older version of a software application. There is no legitimate, ethical reason to force the user to upgrade their software. Not a single one.
Google devs, if you're reading this, please have some respect for your users. Create an option in the settings that will turn off the updater. What you are doing is unethical, and I am very disappointed that a company I considered to be one of the good guys would do something like this.
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Links:
http://toolbar.google.com/ :: Google Toolbar Site
