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Questions concerning the "sponser" part of the install.
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goku262002
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O.P. Questions concerning the "sponser" part of the install.
My friend wanted me to post some questions about the toolbar / sponser program part of the install he was curious about:

quote:
Why would you install something that asks you to put spyware on your computer?

Why would they include it if they are actually decent software makers?

And the people who make Gimp, how do they make money?

Would they include spyware? Does their software not take 10 times the effort to make then this thing?

The people who make GIMP spend 20 times the amount of effort into a piece of software that takes tons of R&D, and these people try to include spyware?




Thanks guys for answering his questions.

This post was edited on 06-10-2007 at 09:51 PM by goku262002.
06-10-2007 09:47 PM
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toddy
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RE: Questions concerning the "sponser" part of the install.
quote:
Originally posted by goku262002
My friend wanted me to post some questions about the toolbar / sponser program part of the install he was curious about:

quote:
Why would you install something that asks you to put spyware on your computer?
the sponsor program is optional

Why would they include it if they are actually decent software makers?
to give patchou an income, if he didn't if would mean that he'd have to get a job. thus meaning a lot less time to develop plus!, and as said above the sponsor is optional




Thanks guys for answering his questions.


This post was edited on 06-10-2007 at 09:57 PM by toddy.
06-10-2007 09:57 PM
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Voldemort
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RE: Questions concerning the "sponser" part of the install.
Research the meaning of adware and spyware, please.
*All posts are a purely speculative hypothesis based on abstract reasoning.
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06-10-2007 10:29 PM
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Supersonicdarky
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RE: Questions concerning the "sponser" part of the install.
also gimp has many developers while plus! only one - patchou
06-10-2007 10:35 PM
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cooldude_i06
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RE: Questions concerning the "sponser" part of the install.
quote:
Originally posted by goku262002
Why would you install something that asks you to put spyware on your computer?


You wouldn't. And we don't because it's not spyware that Plus installs, its ADWARE. It only displays ads, it doesn't send out any info about your activity. Secondly, a program that  asks me if I want to install adware to support it and then gives me an option to not install it, I would trust more than one that doesn't.

quote:
Originally posted by goku262002
Why would they include it if they are actually decent software makers?


How else would the author make money?

quote:
Originally posted by goku262002
And the people who make Gimp, how do they make money?


They don't. GIMP is an open source software developed by a community. The code can contributed by hundreds of people. And they do it as a hobby, Where as Plus only has 1 developer that does it for a living. Open source is good and all, but even the people who contribute to OSS have jobs and get paid for writing some other code.

quote:
Originally posted by goku262002
Would they include spyware? Does their software not take 10 times the effort to make then this thing?


It may be 10 times the effort, but you also have 100 times the labour. Ask your friend to create a program like GIMP all by himself, then ask him to not only distribute it for free, but also not receive any income for producing, maintaining and updating his software as his daily job.

quote:
Originally posted by goku262002
The people who make GIMP spend 20 times the amount of effort into a piece of software that takes tons of R&D, and these people try to include spyware?[/i]


First, it's not "these people", it's this person. Secondly, if Plus didn't take effort to make, it wouldn't be one of a kind. There would be hundreds of programs that would do what Plus does, but there aren't. And GIMP may take 20 times more effort and R&D, but it isn't maintained by 1 developer.

You're friend is comparing completely different things.

This post was edited on 06-10-2007 at 11:06 PM by cooldude_i06.
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06-10-2007 11:03 PM
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Voldemort
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RE: Questions concerning the "sponser" part of the install.
cooldude is wise (y)
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06-11-2007 01:52 AM
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Volv
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RE: Questions concerning the "sponser" part of the install.
Indeed, case closed?
06-11-2007 05:09 AM
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Patchou
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RE: Questions concerning the "sponser" part of the install.
As people have already pointed out in this thread, the sponsor is adware, not spyware, there is a huge difference. A spyware, like its name implies, tends to spy on you, do stuff behind your back and does not provide any way to be removed. The psonsor just display popup ads for various products and comes with a very efficient and fast uninstaller.

As for the amount of time required to do something like Plus!, your firne can't realise how much work is required to do an add-on software like this. It would be actually easier to add features in something made from scratch like Gimp. Note that I'm not saying Gimp is easy to make, I just say the challenges are widely different, making Plus! probably requires more R&D if that's something you're interested in. You can't assume that this or that software is easier or harder to create, if your friend says this kind of thing, he's probably no developer and thus, has no right to throw numbers like these.

Many people create software (like Gimp) without any intention to make money from it. Messenger Plus! was made in the same way and the sponsor was only added more than 2 years after its creation so that I could spend my entire time in the project. Sine then, the number of users frew from 4 million to 17 million so I think I made the right decision.

I hope this answer's your friend's questions.

This post was edited on 06-11-2007 at 06:25 AM by Patchou.
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06-11-2007 06:23 AM
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