Lover of quiet computers Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 There's an article at the Inquirer with a compelling argument that the Opera browser is actually spyware. Now I'm worried. At this point, I no longer trust Opera, and will soon be removing it from all the PC's I own and influence - and that's a great lot of PC's BTW.I know Scot likes Opera; I thought you guys might be interested in seeing this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 I am sure Opera is a great browser, I tried it once and I liked it overall as I have with many software packages till I saw they were adware and/or spyware.But, personally, the reason I have not continued using the adware version of Opera is the same reason I don't use the full (adware) version of Eudora (and I hate their lite version).I figure it this way, software should be one of the following:[*]given away[*]provided as trial or shareware it (full or limited with no adware/spyware)[*]sell it outrightAny of the three methods above I respect. Crippleware annoys me, but even with that I get an idea of what it can do. I generally will not buy crippleware because they annoy me. But I have no respect for companies that do adware or spyware at all, ever.But I really, really dislike it when they provide 'free' or 'trial' software or shareware that is really adware or spyware software with ads downloading to my hard drive (sometimes taking upwards of 10megs of space) and taking up my bandwidth to do this...and talking to their servers. Just so they can spam me in order to make their money ... or track my usage, surfing habits, or worse (in the case of spyware). I don't think so!So, I just don't do any adware or spyware. This has been my boycott issue for many years now.A girl has to draw the line somewhere! <_> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quint Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 I am sure Opera is a great browser, I tried it once and I liked it overall as I have with many software packages till I saw they were adware and/or spyware.But, personally, the reason I have not continued using the adware version of Opera is the same reason I don't use the full (adware) version of Eudora (and I hate their lite version).I figure it this way, software should be one of the following:[*]given away[*]provided as trial or shareware it (full or limited with no adware/spyware)[*]sell it outrightAny of the three methods above I respect. Crippleware annoys me, but even with that I get an idea of what it can do. I generally will not buy crippleware because they annoy me. But I have no respect for companies that do adware or spyware at all, ever.But I really, really dislike it when they provide 'free' or 'trial' software or shareware that is really adware or spyware software with ads downloading to my hard drive (sometimes taking upwards of 10megs of space) and taking up my bandwidth to do this...and talking to their servers. Just so they can spam me in order to make their money ... or track my usage, surfing habits, or worse (in the case of spyware). I don't think so!So, I just don't do any adware or spyware. This has been my boycott issue for many years now.A girl has to draw the line somewhere! What a woman! You put passion into words - great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 Crippleware annoys me, but even with that I get an idea of what it can do. I generally will not buy crippleware because they annoy me.There are some exceptions I could live with. For example, Macromedia offers a trial version of ColdFusion MX for download that is full featured, but after 30 days it becomes a developer version that allows only one remote client to connect to the server. This is great for someone wanting to learn how to use ColdFusion or for quickly testing an application before you spend the money for a fully-licensed version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 quint --Thanks ... this really has been an issue for me for many years ... so I guess I am a bit passionate about it peachy --You are so right and I feel the same way about Macromedia ... that is why I put 'generally' in there ... always an exception to every rule when it comes to crippleware Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akorvemaker Posted April 27, 2003 Share Posted April 27, 2003 There is a followup to the original article.It's basically a retraction of the original article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havnblast Posted April 27, 2003 Share Posted April 27, 2003 hmmmmmm sounds like someone is loosing it over at that website. Opera is a nice browser and is safe to use, been using it for years as an alternative browser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lover of quiet computers Posted April 27, 2003 Author Share Posted April 27, 2003 There is a followup to the original article.It's basically a retraction of the original article.Thanks for alerting me to this retraction... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stryder Posted April 27, 2003 Share Posted April 27, 2003 That is pretty much the norm for that site (the inquirer). They have always been too long on speculation and accusation and too short on facts for my taste. Quit reading them a long time ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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