- This program (bundling) is opt in for the project (Filezilla) and SourceForge ("the pimp") pays Filezilla ("the whore") for each download.
- This isn't recent. In fact it started well over a year ago and was well publicized.
- Even a year ago it was all very malware-y.
- A lot of people were super dismissive about this issue a year ago (see Reddit threads and here). In fact many supported the practice.
- Those same people are now whining about it.
- Suggesting that "but Github exists!" as a solution entirely misses the point. Sourceforge pays the project money, and both Sourceforge and the project profit. So unless Github can match that (hint: it cannot) then that is a non-starter.
This is why I have high hopes for integration with the Microsoft store in Windows 10. I'd be pretty happy giving the Filezilla people .99 cents, assuming no 3rd party installer tricks. MS would store my credit card, it would be a one-click process, take the onus of hosting from Sourceforge/Filezilla, and pay a nice little chunk of change on the side directly to the Filezilla people.
Of course, anyone is free to fork it and host it for free. There are a lot of little things that drive me crazy about Filezilla. I imagine others have the same issues. I could see a fork with good management being very successful.
Ha! The Windows Store is a scum-ridden wasteland. The second top result for Facebook is a fake scam app, claiming to be official. There is a fake Facebook app, paid, that claims to be published by "@Microsoft Corporation". Contacting Store support results in them telling you the app " works as designed ", and if you have a problem with the fake publisher, MS suggests " leave a review ".
Even Netflix had a hard time preventing fakes from being published. Over a month or two, Netflix had to contact MS several times, and MS didn't suspend or remove the publisher. They resubmitted and got listed again. Try searching for HBO, xfinity, etc.
MS is not interested in fixing this problem. Probably some folks have their bonus tied to " number of apps published " and that's that.
I emailed Satya and the manager of the Store, to book effect. The Store is a joke.
For this particular case, if FileZilla is popular, you'll have several fake paid apps. If you're lucky there may be av official app, with no way to verify it's the right one. For most users, they'll be rolling the dice just as much as they are now. Only if FileZilla is extremely diligent would it work. Disney, for example, is a top publisher for the Store, yet all sorts of fake Disney content is on there. I called Disney about this, and after about 15 minutes they figured out "don't go there" (referring to the Store). Even top publishers have a hard time dealing with it. BBC is another case, where top "official" results aren't.
I think this is a point a lot of open source projects miss. They can, and probably should, sell the software even though it is open source.
Trademark (?) protection would prevent a third party from using their name even though it was open source (at least I think so based on the whole Iceweasel event).
Personally, I'd also gladly pay Filezilla a small amount even though it's open source.
Why are these links to Ninite.com flag-killed? It's a tremendously useful program, IMO. Is there some secret danger about this tool I'm missing here?
I'd post my one-click-install-all-the-useful-things Ninite link (which preselects a custom selection of software into one installer) that I use for quickly setting up clean Windows machines at the kids' technology centre I work at. But I fear it might get flagkilled too. (ah doesn't matter anyway, I'm sure the average HNer is smart enough to make their own selection, and currently looking at my selection, some of the tools seem a bit out-of-date, wouldn't pick those today anymore).
This is correct. I actually contacted Filezilla's developer (Tim Kosse) regarding this several months ago, and he let me know that this bundling was intentional on the part of Filezilla.
Even if HN threads are not comprised of the same people, it is still remarkable how entirely different sets of people show up depending on which way the wind is blowing.
Well, I didn't know this, and I'm glad I know now. I'll be looking for an alternative GUI SFTP client for Windows.
I was a bit confused though, I'm pretty sure I installed FileZilla on some Windows machine less than a year ago and would've noticed any malware. But now that I think about it, I used Ninite.com, a multi-install tool for free Windows software, which automatically opts out of any nasty toolbars and such, so I just didn't see it at the time (I'm assuming the malware is at least opt-out, right?).
Doesn't matter though, bundling toolbars/malware is a no-go for me. I know I can (usually) get rid of such pests if they get on my system, but I know so many people who would have a much harder time. Those people are being taken advantage of, they're not "choosing" to have this malware. I can't recommend this type of software to such people because they might get malware if they install it themselves, so they need alternatives without malware. Therefore I won't use the malware-bundled software myself either, because I want to check out the alternatives and see which ones are any good (and I don't really need FileZilla, anyway).
You can get it without the downloader, but it is non-obvious as you have to choose the other download options. To me that implies downloads for different platforms.
The installer is horrible, and I think that the last I looked at it, the options were all opt-out, they hugely abused anti-patterns to make that process all but impossible.
- This program (bundling) is opt in for the project (Filezilla) and SourceForge ("the pimp") pays Filezilla ("the whore") for each download.
- This isn't recent. In fact it started well over a year ago and was well publicized.
- Even a year ago it was all very malware-y.
- A lot of people were super dismissive about this issue a year ago (see Reddit threads and here). In fact many supported the practice.
- Those same people are now whining about it.
- Suggesting that "but Github exists!" as a solution entirely misses the point. Sourceforge pays the project money, and both Sourceforge and the project profit. So unless Github can match that (hint: it cannot) then that is a non-starter.