Ben Edelman responds to 180solutions

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Go get 'em Ben

The prevarication, qualification and hair-splitting from 180 Solutions (solutions for whom? An ironic name if there ever was one) would make Bill Clinton blush on his best grand-jury day.

The swooning I'm-the-injured-party-here histrionics from Sean at 180 would be amusing pantomime if they didn't carry very real consequences for many computer users.

Details aside, let's apply some reality. Users of 800x600 resolution may be 18% of all users, but that is still a huge raw number in terms of pairs of eyes. Moreover, many PC users stay with 800x600 because it is large and readable and - let's face it - they simply don't know how to change the resolution in the first place! When's the last time any legitimate dialog box was shoved down into a corner where all of its borders/buttons weren't visible? 99% of the time they are centered on the screen and for good reason...which may be the same reason 180 elects to shove them down below the taskbar.

By hiding in plain sight, i.e., posting a blog and attempting to take on the vigilant anti-spyware forces, 180 and others of their ilk try their best to present their activities and methods as legitimate. What they are after, of course, is to dictate (at least partially) the terms of the battle - a big mistake.

My only fear is that the good guys will be drawn further into the Gotcha Game over trifles such as the font employed in the EULA. Instead, we should keep using every means necessary to:
1) educate users
2) publicize, criticize and ostracize advertisers and/or 180 'business partners'
3) fight fire with fire by having all those wonderfully creative types out there publish free avatars, screen savers or other eye candy that also act as spyware removal tools. Spy Sweeper isn't very interesting to a 13 year old girl, but a Barbie icon that also checks for malware just might be.

The tree of evil known as spyware has more than one root - finance, publicity and distribution. We should not yield an inch to the spyware crowd by allowing them to argue about how green the grass is on the playing field. Instead, we should chase them completely out of the stadium for good.

Posted by: relictele   Posted on: 01/16/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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