The article is objectively misleading. The title reads "What happens when you install x", but instead they proceed to install x, y, and z. Is it so surprising that when you "click next to install program y", that program y is installed? Download.com doesn't promise not to bundle software, it promises not to install bundled software without the user's consent, which is obscured in this demo. I'm not saying that Download.com is doing the right thing; I'm saying that this article is failing to isolate where the problem really is.
Furthermore, they complain about things that aren't related to Download.com at all. For example, they install YAC and then complain that YAC is installed and working as advertised. Again, it obscures the actual investigation. Consider that this isn't Download.com's recommended apps; it's simply the most downloaded applications. Just because a lot of people download something isn't an assurance that it does something useful. Go to the Editor's Picks for that, which includes many useful and clean programs. Or even the Top Downloads of all time, rather than Last Week.
By obscuring the results of the demo and failing to distinguish between things that should happen and things that shouldn't, HTG makes it harder for us intelligently discuss the Download.com ecosystem. They fail to educate users about bundled software and how to avoid it. Instead, we're just regurgitating vague opinions that the Windows ecosystem is terrible.
The title should read something more like "What happens when you blindly install applications a lot of other people installed" which makes it much easier to discuss whether Download.com is really at fault here, or who/what is. For example, does Download.com have a responsibility not to report and index statistics such as most downloads last week, so that users can't be tricked into thinking that Download.com recommends they install those programs arbitrarily?
Furthermore, they complain about things that aren't related to Download.com at all. For example, they install YAC and then complain that YAC is installed and working as advertised. Again, it obscures the actual investigation. Consider that this isn't Download.com's recommended apps; it's simply the most downloaded applications. Just because a lot of people download something isn't an assurance that it does something useful. Go to the Editor's Picks for that, which includes many useful and clean programs. Or even the Top Downloads of all time, rather than Last Week.
By obscuring the results of the demo and failing to distinguish between things that should happen and things that shouldn't, HTG makes it harder for us intelligently discuss the Download.com ecosystem. They fail to educate users about bundled software and how to avoid it. Instead, we're just regurgitating vague opinions that the Windows ecosystem is terrible.
The title should read something more like "What happens when you blindly install applications a lot of other people installed" which makes it much easier to discuss whether Download.com is really at fault here, or who/what is. For example, does Download.com have a responsibility not to report and index statistics such as most downloads last week, so that users can't be tricked into thinking that Download.com recommends they install those programs arbitrarily?