Sunday, May 5, 2013

no bundled installer from download.com anymore!

Due to the size of the installation files, and to make sure the download reliability and speed, the JoyBidder  desktop application installer for both Windows and Mac OS X are hosted by CNET's download.com. So when you click the Download button from joybidder.com home page, you will be re-directed to download.com and download the JoyBidder windows installer stored at download.com
However, recently, user has reported that download.com use bundled installer, for example, sweekpack, to trick user to download and install additional software that user doesn't want. And these software usually slows computer down and causing computer to crash.  
 To verify this, I just followed the process and download the installer and it runs the installer just the way I implemented. There is no bundled installer or additional software to be installed.
However, I suspect that download.com might treat different users differently. For me, somehow, it allows me to download the correct/clean installer, and, for other users, they might give them a bundled installer. When you launch the real JoyBidder installer, you should see the JoyBidder installer screen shot attached. If you don't see it, please DON'T install.


Before I sent inquiry to download.com, I did some research on sweetpack. It appears, according to sweetpack's own statement, they do have business arrangement with download.com to provide bundled installer that will download additional software.

However, it is quite a shock and considered a bad business conduct that download.com will do this without software's author's consent or knowledge. 

So I send the following email to download.com to inquire this matter further. If download.com admits this behavior, I will no longer use their service anymore. 
Here is the reply I got
Hello,

Thank you for contacting CNET Upload.com. CNET Installer has been disabled for your products.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Best regards,

Ivan
Customer Service
CNET Upload.com
Well, so they admitted they are doing this without my consent and fortunately they will no longer to this anymore. While I am still using their service in the near future, I will keep an eye on this. JoyBidder users, please let me know immediately, if download doesn't keep their promise and start to use bundled installer again.
And for anyone, not trusting download.com, you have always download from joybidder.com directly. The URL for the latest version is http://www.joybidder.com/download/jb-1.9.17-app-win.exe. Obviously, you need to change the file name for newer versions.