Digsby has gone to the dark side.

[+Warwagon MVC]

After recently downloading a copy of Digsby at a customers house. I was shocked what I found. I was so shocked I rechecked that I hadn't been phished about 4 times.

While all of the stuff in new install is opt out. Its still a step back. Whats funny is that after you see all of that spyware being thrown in your face a box pops up at the end of the install wanting your email address. If that doesn't make you worried on some level even if just for a moment, you need to listen to some "security now".

Here is what I posted on the digsby forum regarding the new installer

First of let me start by saying I downloaded the first beta that was made available to the public. When I say I was quite impressed I'm not kidding. Never before had I fallen in love with an IM client that I continued to use for months and still use to this day. I tried other IM clients like Pidgin or Miranda. But they got deleted after about a day of use. They just never felt right. The previous IM messenger I used was trillian. With the new Astra release taking forever and the god ugly default UI, well let's just say Digsby came along just in time.

About 2 weeks ago I was at a customer's house. I do computer repair and I was there on a repair job. I just finished reinstalling Windows XP from a malware infection. I was going to have them try Digsby, in hopes this would prevent them having to run 4 different messengers at once. I went to the site and downloaded the installer. Once I opened the installer to start installing Digsby, to say I was surprised is an understatement. I was so surprised that I thought somehow I had been phished by miss typing the URL. So I checked it, double checked it and triple checked it. Surely this installer couldn't be related to Digsby? So I checked it again. At this point I closed the installer hopping I just didn't catch some kind of infection on this nice clean xp machine. I don't know what frightened me more about that installer. The fact it looked so doggy or all of the different things I could potentially infect (yes I said infect, most of that stuff is spyware) this machine with.

I don't know if it's because I'm computer savvy, or the fact I listen to the podcast "Security Now" every week and just had a gibsonian response(a response Steve Gibson would have if he ran your installer).

I realize that you make all of the items on the installer opt out. Being in the computer repair business you see just how stupid people can be. People will infect themselves will all sorts of stuff without trying very hard. Unfortunately I feel your new Digsby installer gives people an even easier way to accomplish that.

I know you guys want to make money. After all, you are making something for free. I just have to imaging there is a better way to accomplish this than by using your new frightenly infectious installer. Remember how bad the buzz surrounding Kazza was from installing tons spyware on peoples machines? At this point in time I feel you are really no different, other than the fact you ask people before you do it. The truth of the matter is people are too stupid to opt out.

I would try a donation button first. See how that goes. If you offered free life time upgrades I'd buy a copy of your product for $20. Just please do away with your new installer. While I guess you guys mean well on some really hard to figure out level, in the end your shooting yourself in the foot. Keep it up and you will be known as the Kazza of instant messengers.

Adam

And now for the photos

Edited December 30, 2008 by warwagon

[-Hiroshi-]

Ah damn, and I used to love Digsby, guess that's never hitting my PC again, I'll deal with the separate apps.

[ViperAFK]

Is Trillian Astra out of beta yet?

No but it's quite stable, I haven't had a single crash or problem, I switched after I encountered that ****ing horrible installer, it shocked and appalled me they would do that.

[Usufruct]

I registered because I saw your post on the Digsby forums, and also because I wanted to add my opinion (in the form of what I wrote there). Yeah, I was raging a little bit. I've been arguing with them for awhile.

"I registered mainly to voice my cynicism regarding the lack of linux support, but also of course to add my voice to the cacophony of those irritated by the spyware-ridden install. I can't possibly even install any of that spyware (or digsby) anyway even if I were to accept it, and it still ****ed me off.

Why not pull a Trillian, and offer two versions of the client? Digsby Basic, an ad supported version lacking a fancy feature or two, and the attractively priced Digsby Pro with no ads and all the features?

The ridiculous install you've packaged with the most recent versions, which I have only seen through wine (if you haven't guessed, I am a linux user) cannot possibly be raking in the new users. It's horrific, as I'm sure you were aware before you released it.

It does however bring me to my next point, the cynicism I mentioned earlier. If you're going to depend on revenue generated by packaging absurd spyware and junkware with digsby, I don't see you EVER releasing a Mac or especially a Linux version of your IM client. If a decent percentage of your user base can't even use the horrible software offered during the install, the companies paying you to include that aren't going to be particularly enthusiastic about continuing to do so.

But yeah, maybe it's a temporary thing, just to turn a buck, whatever. It's insulting to your users - again, a group of people that I am still not a part of, by no choice of my own.

I suppose you could always do plan D, turn the source code over to the community and find a new job. At least we'd finally get digsby for linux ;)"

[+Ryster Subscriber²]

opt-out? It looks to me like all those items are actually opt-in by default in the installer, ie. if you just click accept accept accept, you'll get all those malwares installed by default.

this is really sad for Digsby, which was a nice program with a nice design before.

Dude, you need to learn what the terms opt-in and opt-out mean.

Opt-in means that you are not included by default and you have to ask to be included.

Opt-out means that you are included by default and you have to ask to be excluded.

The digsby installer falls into the second category I mentioned above. A normal user will just click Accept, Accept, Accept, etc without reading, thereby ending up with the malware installed. What they should do instead is follow Messenger Plus! Live's example and make you check a radio box to say YES or NO, then press Next. That way, if you end up with the malware, you are too stupid to own a computer.

[Neoauld]

the installer freezes my laptop EVERY time

i cant even get it to run

[fix-this!]

well im an avid pidgin user but since the new build is crap and crashes i went with digsby and i love it. yes they promote some things but you can choose not to install it, daemon tools and many other programs do the same. overall it is a really good program to use.

[+Warwagon MVC]

well im an avid pidgin user but since the new build is crap and crashes i went with digsby and i love it. yes they promote some things but you can choose not to install it, daemon tools and many other programs do the same. overall it is a really good program to use.

I agree

I'm just worried about the uneducated little guy who's machine is going to get hosed from the installer.

[ViperAFK]

Yeah I know tons of people that would click accept without even looking at those, they way they have it set up it's not obvious at all to computer noobs imo.

[riot]

Thats horrible. I just saw Digsby for the first time the other day and was going to try it. Looks like I'll be sticking with Trillian.

[spenser.d]

Hmm. I didn't know about their little research project. That's pretty shady on their part, but I've disabled that now.

-Spenser

[BlueFiberOptics]

Before we get too excited, just remember you can decline and turn off anything that Digsby does.

[rbet]

HA HA!

*hugs Miranda IM more tightly, who he never left*

[AaronMT]

That's why I moved to Meebo

[Reeker]

Hey guys you can download the clean Digsby from here:Digsby

[lawlz]

i was looking for a small im client for an eeepc just last week and, while i've tinkered with miranda-im in the past, i wanted to give digsby a shot since i've heard so much about it.

i got THAT installer and almost threw my machine across the room. i was hoping it was a recent addition, because if that junk was part of the bundle the whole time, i don't know how it could've become so popular.

trillian astra on one box, miranda on the other. these guys have lost any possible support i ever would've given them.

[-Vivicidal-]

Burn it! Seriously, shipping spyware always puts me off a program for life.

[Denis W. Veteran]

It's buried under Help > Support Digsby, and in the dialog that appears there is an option for "Help Digsby conduct research" with a Disable button next to it.

That's not an obvious place to opt-out of something that drains battery power out of laptops. :hmmm:

For now I'm keeping their old installer and letting it auto-update on startup. Saves me from having to deal with the adware installer.

[Veedems Veteran]

It's only the bull research option that gets me really annoyed. The fact that it's turned on automatically is insanely wrong and bothers me a lot. If I get home tonight and find out that's where my CPU cycles were going, I'm going to start looking at alternatives, yet again. I'll miss the social networking stuff, but I can't support a company that would go that far. I was cursing yesterday as I was trying to figure out why my system was running like a slug.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

i have turned off the research function and have already noticed that things are starting to speed up. However i also noticed that the Memory footprint of the application has gone down as well (assuming this is simply because the module is no longer being loaded. however i have not finished a complete scan of my computer for virus/spyware/temp research files. Once that is done i will decide whether or not i want to keep the IM. I have to say thought that i do enjoy using the Social Networking features and that is the only things i do use it for I still use Windows Live messenger for Windows Live and Yahoo messaging.

[SuperKid]

Reeker has a link to the clean installer above, i guess thats the file the installer downloads once you've finished declining through all the adware/spyware.

[39 Thieves]

Reeker has a link to the clean installer above, i guess thats the file the installer downloads once you've finished declining through all the adware/spyware.

It is. Other than the normal installation questions, the only (somewhat) crappy options are the ones that have been there for awhile. Still has the research thing enabled by default though, but at least it's a clean installer.

[iamwhoiam]

Messenger Plus doesn't install it if you click Decline.

I really don't think it's fair to compare Digsby to Messenger Plus!. Cyril and the rest of us have worked extremely hard to make it clear that the sponsor program is not only 100% noticeable when installing, but also have worked to keep the sponsor program non-intrusive by filtering out nudity and profanity out of the advertisements. To say that you quit using Messenger Plus! because of the "addition of adware in the installer" is very misleading because it's totally noticeable.

50 million people use Messenger Plus! and it's resources on a daily basis, so it takes a lot for Cyril to keep the software going smoothly. The only way that we're able to see new version of Messenger Plus! offering new features (Such as the custom sounds feature), is by having the sponsor program.

That's not the point. The point is is that it's even there.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

I have to agree with Digsby though, on the fact that in order to make the program free they have to do something of the sort and to be honest i would rather see it all at the beginning than have to see it every time that i load the program And the program does Run great and work amazingly. The only problem i have with it all is the "Hidden" research function that was not mentioned anywhere in the download process that i know of (then again i did not read the EULA on this program (something i am sad to say that i rarely every do.))

[i_was_here]

Burn it! Seriously, shipping spyware always puts me off a program for life.

+1

Also being able to unselect it during install just seems like a cheap workaround. I prefer 100% clean apps.

[Snowl]

Dont you just love the blog post that they announced it under? Keeping Digsby Free and Ad-Free

Keeping Digsby Free and Ad-Free

Yeah, right. New IM client naw!