Do you have a programming language and runtime environment that is just too cool for its own good?
Do you want to make it look cheap, nasty and disreputable? Why not push useless browser toolbars and change people’s default search engine if they are being just a little inattentive?
Come on Oracle, don’t treat Java like an opportunity to push junk onto users!
Man… I know.
I cringed when I installed the java runtime (after a long break) and saw that…
To misquote GNU,
You have Free as in ‘Freedom’,
You have Free as in ‘Beer’,
And you have FREE as in ‘Junk’ 
Is this shit for real? I thought it was fake before reading the full post :emo:
It’s not the best, it’s the worst. >:(
Although crappy move towards consumers, there is no real need to worry about the Java brand becoming any cheaper, its already the laughing stock when it comes to security and its commonly advised that it should be uninstalled.
Besides all serious deployed Java apps have already moved to using a bundled JRE and the system JRE is becoming less and less relevant.
Interestingly I remember reading somewhere the amount of money made from these bundled toolbars is enough to fund the entire current Java SE development team, not sure where that was posted though.
Stupid question but how exactly do they make money out of bundles & toolbars?
Search providers add ads to the search results, which make them money, so they typically want to broaden their reach by aggresively pushing their toolbars, paying whoever is willing to bundle it in their installer.
My advice would be: if you deploy your Java application to your customers, NEVER use the Oracle malware-infested installer. Java is a great language and the JVM is pretty amazing, but please save your users this junkware and use an embedded JRE or some other solution such as Excelsior JET instead.
Runiter already posted a petition about that on Change.org:
https://www.change.org/petitions/oracle-corporation-stop-bundling-ask-toolbar-with-the-java-installer
Wow…
Time to start writing C launchers and bundling my own JRE…
Its… Its bad. I personally don’t mind, but the general public who know nothing about Java probably are very put off by it.
Which won’t succeed if this is true:
And I can absolutely see that being true.
What… so they can fund the entire development effort for Java SE from the Java plugin, but they nevertheless neglect the Java plugin to the extent that it is widely discounted as a security risk?
Vicious circle. Less people thrust JRE > Less downloads > Less $$$ > More aggressive product placement > Less people thrust JRE > …
Everyone makes mistakes, corporations are no exception (I would even say that most of corporations are making a lot of mistakes and bad decisions).
It’s incredibly short-sighted; they’re sacrificing the Java brand for a minuscule ad revenue.
You can’t blame Oracle though; this lunacy started under Sun.
Java has been mismanaged since the very beginning; that it still remains a somewhat relevant technology today is a testament to how good it could have been.
I just opt out of these dang things. I never install piggy-backs.
But I find their presence kind of reassuring, indicative that Java and Oracle must be somewhat successful in a mainstream sort of way, or certainly Mozilla wouldn’t be bothering.
Also, I figure it is a good thing if Oracle is able to offset some of the costs of supporting Java with out directly requiring me to pay anything. This is much better than the situation with Microsoft technology.
I have never seen that Ask Toolbar before because I never download Java from www.java.com
I go directly to the source: java.sun.com and click on Java SE on the right or the newest update, both lead to the same page: www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html
pacman -S jdk7-openjdk
8D 8D
That is all.