bundleware in the installer!

[rahk]

Hello,

I'm a big fan of AHK and of the classy GUI Pulover Macro, but I'm really surprised. Why, oh why, someone who's distributing a software for free, would include in the installer such a terrible thing as "Web Companion"!!??

Why would you risk the reputation of your product for a few cents after deceiving people to install that piece of **** on their computer?

You'd be better off providing an honest installer and counting on donations, seriously.

[joedf]

We have requested that adware-free signs be removed and Pulover has graciously now added a disclaimer.

Disclaimer: PMC is a third-party application and its executable installer may contain adwares or other content that AutoHotkey.com is NOT responsible for.

We will likely be adding a sticky about this soon.

As far as I know, there's an option to decline something from Lavasoft, then the install should be free of any adware or bundleware.
In my understanding, this is done to financially support the software and server costs.

[tank]

Just to clarify

it has always been true that freeware usually is packaged with bloat. this isn't new not even in the 90's.

PMC is written in AHK and the source is freely avail. you don't actually need the installer.
PMC is not hosted or provided by our servers
PMC is featured in our forums by a user as it is a robust product that makes the automation journey more pleasant for many.
you are free to observe the license fork and support alternate options.
PMC or any other featured AHK solution in our forum are not owned or endorsed in any way by AutoHotkey Foundation LLC.

While we do our best to prevent real or perceived malign usages of our software from being distributed from our site:
Pulover did not create the installer:
The application referenced does not itself demonstrate or encourage misuse. can only be downloaded from his site, GitHub, or other locations he has elected to host downloads.
AutoHotkey Foundation LLC does not host, endorse or otherwise recommend one way or another the usage of said download options.
there is no financial or otherwise beneficial arrangement between Pulover or his software with AutoHotkey Foundation LLC

as with any open source software be it Linux distros, Open SSL, or AutoHotkey. it is incumbent upon the users to scrutinize, evaluate and make your own assessment of its value.

You are welcome to even post your concerns in the thread.

Not all of the users and developers of free software agreed with the goals of the free software movement. In 1998, a part of the free software community splintered off and began campaigning in the name of “open source.” The term was originally proposed to avoid a possible misunderstanding of the term “free software,” but it soon became associated with philosophical views quite different from those of the free software movement.

Free Software
Let me make this clear beforehand: the word 'free' in 'free software' emphasizes freedom, not price. That’s why, to avoid the ambiguity in the English language, sometimes free software is called libre software.

According to the Free Software Foundation (FSF), a non-profit organization that supports the development of free software, “free software is the software that grants the user the freedom to share, study, and modify it.” The FSF coined the term in the 1980s.

Open Source Software
Open source software has a close meaning to free software, although the two terms are not identical. Although both terminologies refer to a similar group of licenses and software, each term alludes to different underlying ideologies.

The Open Source Initiative (OSI), the non-profit organization that supports the development of open source software, asserts that any open source software must adhere to the following criteria:

Free redistribution of the software.

• The source code should be publicly available.
• The software can be modified and distributed in a different format from the original software.
• The software should not discriminate against persons or groups.
• The software should not restrict the usage of other software.
• Historically, the term free software came before open source. Although both terms have roots in supporting the idea of free software (right to use, study, share, and modify), their objectives and philosophies are different.

The term open source was introduced in the late 1990s in response to the limitations of free software. In fact, the OSI says that it coined the term to “educate and advocate for the superiority of an open development process.”

AutoHotkey is Open Source

PMC is freeware

[rahk]

Thanks Guys for the replies,

I see a lot of "legal" in your answers so I'd like to clarify that I'm not trying to make anybody liable for whatsoever just stressing out how bad of an idea is to release an installer with a bloatware in it. And yes, I know my options, I'm not choosing to boycott PMC. As I started in my OP, I really like PMC, but I can't agree with bloatware installing by itself so I'm trying to make things better for the less aware user.

I was directing my message at the PMC's dev, thinking he did the installer. But if he didn't then who did?

I'm very aware of the bloat that can come with freeware but this time it seems that it's the update process that did the bloat install job without asking for my consent! I only accepted for the update to be installed - in which case that would be really deceitful, but I admit I might have missed something so not 100% sure about this - did this happen to anybody else ?

Cheers all!

[rahk]

Ok my bad, I've just checked if there was a new update on PMC and there was so I went through the process again and it did show me this

image.png (29.47 KiB) Viewed 1632 times

So I must have missed it the first time...

[joedf]

Thanks for sharing the screenshot!
Yes, afaik... This is intentional.