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octalmage / mDesktop

mDesktop is a lightweight application that allows the user to utilize multiple virtual desktops.
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Rethink OpenCandy integration in the free installer. #6

Closed PeterKnight closed 9 years ago

PeterKnight commented 10 years ago

Not even freetards deserve to have malware on their computers, makes life harder for everyone.

Better to have a minimum payment level...

octalmage commented 10 years ago

Hi Peter,

I assure you mDesktop does not contain malware. The language mDesktop is written in often triggers false positives because of the bundled nature. This is something AutoHotkey users have dealt with for a long time. You can read more about this here:

http://www.autohotkey.com/board/topic/29203-an-open-letter-for-antiviral-software-companies/

And a Google search turns up a lot more:

https://www.google.com/webhp?#q=autohotkey+false+positive

PeterKnight commented 10 years ago

I'm not asserting MDesktop does that, I'm saying the free "ad supported" MDesktop installer does with no apparent opt-out. (when I tried it was called "linkey")

Better to remove the free download option altogether imo than subject computers to software like linkey.

octalmage commented 10 years ago

My apologies, to me malware is not the same as ad supported.

Either way I very carefully researched OpenCandy and I've tried a bunch of different payment models and this is the one that works best for this project. OpenCandy is opt-in and requires you to pick an option before continuing, additionally I've marked the install as ad supported on getmdesktop.com. I feel that I've done my part. If you have any relevant experience with alternative pay models, feel free to share!

You can also build the project from source if you'd like! I haven't moved the build instructions but you can find them here: https://code.google.com/p/mdesktop/wiki/building

PeterKnight commented 10 years ago

mdekstop-linkey

For what it's worth, I'm not complaining about the model you've decided for your project. It's just the problem with these kinds of installers is the software that comes bundled tends to be malware. They hijack browsers, make themselves hard to uninstall, are installed in ambiguous ways and are a general security concern for end-users. I still have not fully been able to unhinge conduit from some other software project even after using cleaning tools. These kinds of things are straight up nasty.

In this case it's linkey and the google search this brings up is filled with "how to uninstall this malware/virus" type of stuff. Why would want to associate your work with that? It even says "mDesktop recommends linkey". The installer does not offer a clear opt-out either, presumably there is none.

Thank you for linking the build instructions. I think it's great that you moved this over to github, now I might be able to contribute some code.

octalmage commented 10 years ago

Hmm that's not the way it's suppose to look. I may need to look into this some more. Strangely when I run the installer in a VM the OpenCandy screen doesn't show at all.

octalmage commented 9 years ago

I've completely removed OpenCandy!