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RealPlayer Labeled "Badware"
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:01 am
by WRXWagon2112
This just reinforces my hatred for RealPlayer:
Link
When do the "helpful" add-ons supplied with a handy utility go too far? When does it enter the realm of badware? StopBadware.org, a watchdog group whose advisory board includes such luminaries as Vint Cerf and Esther Dyson, will tell you when, in precise detail. A set of guidelines on the site lists specific failures of disclosure and unwarranted actions that qualify a program as badware. And their latest target is RealPlayer.
It's hard to argue with their detailed report. They point out that RealPlayer 11 installs the Rhapsody Player Engine without notifying the user and fails to remove it upon being uninstalled--that's a no-no.
The charge against RealPlayer 10.5, the version distributed by third-party channels, is more serious. They say it installs an adware feature and falsely identifies it as a "message center... designed to provide useful software updates." The StopBadware reports offer recommendations to RealPlayer that would get them off the "badware list". We'll see what shakes out.
--Alan
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:28 am
by Phibs
^^^ +1 +1 +1 +1
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:36 am
by Libra Monkee
Meh, I haven't installed Realplayer since I found out about Media Player Classic.
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:04 am
by WRXWagon2112
There's also
RealPlayer Alternative. Although now that I think about it, that may just be Media Player Classic with certain codecs installed?
--Alan
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:30 am
by complacent
i hate ad supported programs.
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:04 pm
by Sabre
WRXWagon2112 wrote:There's also
RealPlayer Alternative. Although now that I think about it, that may just be Media Player Classic with certain codecs installed?
--Alan
Yes, it is
Check out the
Mega Codec Pac. I've yet to find something that it doesn't support.
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:30 pm
by Libra Monkee
^^^ That's what I use on my Windows machines. It even does FLAC!
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:45 pm
by sirwilliam
I always knew RealPlayer was evil...its like it was from MD or...Canada!
JK about Canada!
but I stick to what I said about MD.
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:16 pm
by ElZorro
My last two companies had Realplayer on the 'unapproved software list', was actually an IT security violation to install it...
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:18 pm
by complacent
ElZorro wrote:My last two companies had Realplayer on the 'unapproved software list', was actually an IT security violation to install it...
that I like. score one for the IT team.
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:09 pm
by avriette
Libra Monkee wrote:Meh, I haven't installed Realplayer since I found out about Media Player Classic.
I haven't installed Realplayer since the time it tried to tell my Mac that
IT should be the default application for .mov and .mp3 (this was OS 10.0.4). Uhhh, yeah. Those fuckers have even more issues than the streaming people at AOL.