[fakeempire]

Why is this getting upvoted? That is a monkey chatter comment. That's the stupidest justification I've ever heard. This is scummy tactics. Period. Why would you defend it unless you had a vested interest in doing so? You know its bad. Why on earth would I EVER want someone to install additional software on to my computer without consent or notification.

I NEVER WOULD. That simple. You wouldn't either.

Google's update tactics are really shitty as well but at least you know you are installing it in the first place. This is just crap and you know it.

There is a third option to get outraged about that you didn't mention. Shitty tactics. It was obviously a sneaky move. You know it, they know it and I know it.

[patio11]

Why would you defend it unless you had a vested interest in doing so?

Because I have a longstanding, passionate interest in making software which can be used by people who do not make software. If your software requires package management, they can't use it. If your software requires configuration, they can't use it. If your software requires consent or notification, they either a) click right past without reading it or b) can't use it because they process anything longer than one sentence as "The scary box is showing me an error message."

Let me give you an example, taken straight from Ubuntu/Firefox. Firefox depends on ubuntu-desktop, a meta-package. Ubuntu-desktop contains, among other things, ure.

Do you really want to show my aunt -- who thinks Firefox is called "the Google" -- "Firefox requires installing a piece of software called 'ure' on your computer. Think carefully whether you consent to installing 'ure'."

[Install Ure] [Don't Install Ure] <-- P.S. My aunt does not understand this will cause her to fail at what she is trying to do.

There are several dozen other packages to run through, too.

My aunt is not capable of making that decision. She doesn't know what ure is. Hell, I don't even know what ure is (+), and it is my business to know things like this. It is her business to teach high schoolers and she has told you she wants to use Firefox to do it. Make it happen and get out of her way.

+ On checking with the Googles, I have discovered it is an OpenOffice run-time component. Duh, why didn't I think of that.

[fakeempire]

Well your passion is misguided and you should quit the software business now. Seriously.

Your argument is completely invalid. You are debating a dependency issue vs the installation of additional unrelated software.

I'm sure Microsoft has your aunts best interests in mind when they put their search bar into a product that they dont maintain.

If you are all for software companies installing random peices of bullshit software on your computer during regular updates of their software, then I'll gladly setup an update server that you can use. Dont worry, your aunt wont have to make any decisions.