Adware vs. Spyware

[dubstylee]

The central problem with p2p is how to profit from it. Sure, there will always be a few who make p2p programs with no ads and no intention of material gain (hats off to John Marshall of Gnucleus), but it is my belief that those few will always be outweighed by the considerable resources of capitalism.

Programmers make a lot of money. Some make more than lawyers and doctors if you break it down hourly. A good p2p app is at least a couple hundred thousand lines of code, no matter what you are writing it in. And it's not going to write itself. So that begs the question, how to profit from p2p? How are you going to pay that expensive programmer, and what is your incentive for laying out that cash? A lot of companies turn to banner advertising, then find that brings in a measley amount each month, move to popups/popunders, and eventually to what we affectionately term "adware" or "spyware".

Adware or spyware are programs budled with your favorite p2p application that perform little profit-making actions in the back of your computer. Some mine data from the internet sites you visit and send it back to the mothership, to be processed and eventually end up in some graph in a little clear binder on some boardroom table, a tool in someone's speech on the "grand strategic strategy" of the company. Some have a more "ethical" approach, they download ads from a central server while a active internet connection is available, then serve those ads to you on a sporadic basis.

We can all agree that none of these programs are good, meaning you wouldn't go out actively looking to download and run them, since they are so cool. But are they a necessary evil? And if so how far is too far? Is it cool for a program to collect data on the internet sites you visit, as long as that data is not related to you in any personally identifiable way?

The monetization of p2p will march forward, that's just the world we live in. If there is money to be made, rest assured someone will make it. How do you think it should be made?

[slacker52]

no more than 2 banner ads in five minutes
no more than 5 popups\unders in one hour
all spy\adware will notify and prompt the user exactly when info is being collected\sent, no more than once a day
sound like a nice money making standard?

[roger d]

this is the question. I have no solution but if someone sneaks a program that runs in the background of my machine in with freeware or shareware (or even worse paid software) I have no use for that or the host that it rode in with. As you can read on these pages daily, we want it free, fast and high quality. Are we setting a standard so high that it can only be met in the short term. Will we see "downloaders" prisons in the future because the fruit on the tree was just too tempting.
How can the zp staff turn this thing into at least a small flow of income? How can we expect future P2P programs to be set up "on a professional" basic if there is no cash to even write the program. There has to be a trade off somewhere-I will take this and you can take that. To some extent Musicians are faced with the same problem but they can alway play live and charge a cover. Is there a live venue for P2P programs? This question is worthy of discussion.

[slacker52]

Originally posted by slacker52
no more than 2 banner ads in five minutes
no more than 5 popups\unders in one hour
all spy\adware will notify and prompt the user exactly when info is being collected\sent, no more than once a day
sound like a nice money making standard?
i think this also makes a decent trade off, so long as the downloading consumer pays nothing for it

[method]

Thing is, I still think a lot of people want freeware with no adverts at all. It's a dilemma I'm going through... - I'd like to add adware with ads displayed once every 20-30 minutes. (if clicked on, they disappear until the next one arrives.) but I think a lot of users would still object to that. :(

[darknebula]

personally I don't care as long as it isn't as insidious as that damn alligator from Gain, that's the sort of sneaky advertising I hate. Especially as removing it fom your PC screws IE that kind of sucks. Anyway just for a laugh have a look at this Bill Gate's Windows XP Sucks (http://www.markyp1963z.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/) Gave me a giggle and there's some cool midifiles there as well :sw

[mojo-ris-in]

:devil Maybe the way to do it is make the software shareware like Mirc does but enforce the fee. Try it for 30 days and if you like it purchase a license and if not go back to what you were using before. Seems to me that if the program is quality work and does what I want it to do then I have no problem paying 20 bucks for it. I win, they win it's all good.....

[Lamourlady]

Originally posted by Stoner
Bottom line.

This is MY machine. and i have 100% absolute control of what i see and what gets to run. Period

If this includes blocking, stripping, removing adware. Fine. Why should i waste time and resources displaying ads i will NEVER NEVER NEVER click on. It just serves to annoy me.

RIP IT OUT!

Hack it crack it break it fix it remove that bull you dont want.

ITS MY MACHINE! Regardless of what i "agreed" to to make the program run in the first place.

thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

believe me........they will find a way of making money.......but, please not at my expense, without letting me know, okay!
but i do believe we will all have to make decisions on what software we will use, based on the knowledge of whether adware/spyware is attached to it.
but i have faith that a new profitable resource will be found.
and like mojo-ri-sin has stated, in the end we more than likely, will be paying for our passionate downloading, anyhoot.
we just have to wait and see what the programmers can come up with.
then we decide.
we have the POWER!!!!!!!!!
until then.......p2p will bank on the fact that none of us wants ANY spyware/adware....and that we will choose those who don't have it.
period.

[Azo-999]

Originally posted by mojo-ris-in
Seems to me that if the program is quality work and does what I want it to do then I have no problem paying 20 bucks for it. I win, they win it's all good.....

Yes, at 1992 Linus Thorwalds from my home country at University of Helsinki in Finland found out a good idea. Why not working out a complete clone of Unix operating system, which should be free for all and what's the best thing : free source code for all to make own customized kernel and add some good new ideas to it, then send back to Linus. After 2 years a whole bunch of peeps all over the world was found making Linux and new sources came out weekly (under Linus's control). downloadable with an also free GNU's C(++) compiler. So people get 2 good products at modem-bill-price and a lot of experience - I was one of them, even made some mods to the code, that Linus accepted and forwarded...
Nowadays the source is still free at all versions (Redhad, Slackware etc...), but capitalism has a little bit bite the prod. Between lines they are making money e.g. have to buy a complete book with the CD's or whatsoever...

BUT - The point is, that P2P could be(come) like Linux. We people all over the world make the P2P possible - so why not making ourselves the application too (WaZaA e.g.) same way as Linus made Linux. We need only Mr. Sharez - a non-selfish good Visual C++ programmer, who would make the basics and take control of the Idea and future modifications.
At modern world there is one simple problem : Everyone would like to get the glory (and Oscar of Sharing) - too much competition as we see with those published products. They want more networks saýing that ours is better than their...
So the sharing goes to pieces, where everyone have their own favorite apps (and p2p's). The total amount of peeps per net decreases and the law of the jungle comes up : Only the strong will survive! And us ("consumers") are wondering where to go, what app to choose - takes a lot of resources, as a gift giving us some experience. Someone has said here : P2P will never die. I say for that : Never say Never. It can be M2U (Me to You) after few years (with direct pipes with UDP IP to IP). I use that method with a "self-made messenger" with my friends. It's faster than e-mail and "Size does not Matter"...(and privacy is safe when only I Know the crypt key of the other's and vice versa)

P.S. I think i've lost the reality, where I am just now, so better not write more - What was the subject? ;-)

:sw :sw :sw :sw

[MoonMan]

Originally posted by slacker52
no more than 2 banner ads in five minutes
no more than 5 popups\unders in one hour
all spy\adware will notify and prompt the user exactly when info is being collected\sent, no more than once a day
sound like a nice money making standard?

5 Popups/under is a HUGE amount! Plus I think all adware should be optional. Spyware... I don't want anything to do with it.