Tucows began as a software downloads site nearly 25 years ago and has since evolved beyond that early core business and into domain names, mobile phone service (Ting) and symmetrical gigabit fiber Internet in select towns and cities in the US (Ting Internet). Now Tucows has announced that as a gesture of goodwill, Tucows has banned deceptive ads, hidden download buttons, pop-ups, flypaper, toolbars and other such Internet nastiness from the the nearly 40,000 software titles it hosts for users on it's download sites. "On the Tucows downloads site today, you'll find no flashing ads. No toolbars. No pop-ups," says CEO Elliot Noss. "You might see a few plugs for other Tucows services, but nothing too egregious... and certainly not anything that's pretending to be a download button." With Tucows' success in domain names, mobile phone service (Ting) and fiber Internet (Ting Internet), Tucows' revenue from downloads has become less relevant when looking at the balance sheet. "We don't lightly walk away from opportunities or revenue," says Noss. "In the end, though, we'd rather have the Tucows name associated with good; with a belief in the power of the Internet to affect positive change. An ad-heavy site that packages browser toolbars along with every download isn't something we want people to think of when they hear 'Tucows,'."
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Saturday May 07 2016, @12:27AM
Sourceforge beat them to it... maybe... I haven't been there in 5 years or more.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 07 2016, @01:00AM
IIRC the same company that just bought slashdot also picked up sourceforge and their first action was to end all that bullshit there too. I still haven't gone back myself either, but I assume they kept their word. Its a good sign that the industry is changing, but it makes my inner cynic think the assholes-in-charge just found some new niche to fuck over.
(Score: 1) by echostorm on Saturday May 07 2016, @12:35AM
This is kindof a non issue and not real news, but I am happy they are trying to go back to being a legit company. I support that.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by frojack on Saturday May 07 2016, @01:10AM
Not me.
They went to the dark side, and I've written them off a long time ago. Some magnanimous promise to stop kicking sand in my face hardly makes up for all they years they did.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday May 07 2016, @01:35AM
Similar here. I just don't use "download sites". When I want to download something, I go to the author's site to download it. If the author doesn't actually host his application, then I use the link provided on the site. Seldom does that "official" link lead to a Tucows-like site. However good or however bad the author made his software, I want to get the author's real software, not something bundled with browser bars, tracking cookies, etc ad nauseum.
If you want Spybot Search and Destroy, just enter that name into Google, with the term "home". You will get the link to Spybot's home page. Go there, and look for your download. It works with just about anything you can name. Pro-tip - if the software has no home page, there is no reason to expect the author to provide any support. Just consider his work to be abandon ware, and move on to another software that has similar functions.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Saturday May 07 2016, @10:15AM
The last one is the only one that's still valuable, and it hasn't done a good job at that for a really long time.
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by ledow on Saturday May 07 2016, @12:37PM
Precisely.
All those toes you stepped on on your way up the ladder should come back to bite you on the way down.
You didn't care about your users enough to not do this crap in the first place, and now you expect them to be grateful that you won't continue to do it even though you can't make enough money from it any more?
I just blacklisted any site that did this, CNET Download.com, Sourceforge, Tucows, etc. and moved on with my life. As far as I'm concerned, such places are like the old shareware FTP sites are nowadays. Legacy, dead, unnecessary, not even a particularly nice way of downloading things you might be interested in.
For some of those sites, it was like visiting a library where every book you pulled out of a shelf had a boobytrapped bag of flour behind it, ready to explode over you.
After your first visit, you don't bother going back.
(Score: 2) by rufty on Saturday May 07 2016, @12:35AM
I went to tucows many years ago. They were a load of JGriefMcPopupBling. Don't care what they're saying, they had their chance and blew it.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday May 07 2016, @02:20AM
I had abandoned them a long time ago when they started doing that crap.
I thank you for the heads-up and will give them another try when I am looking for something.
I am not quite so paranoid over package tampering after learning how to MD5 and SHA what I get.
But for some time there, when someone insisted on using their installer, I could not bring myself to trust them. Kinda like do I really want that opened box of candy?
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Funny) by Dunbal on Saturday May 07 2016, @12:49AM
They finally realized what they were doing wrong? Well there's really only one thing [youtube.com] left to say.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Chromium_One on Saturday May 07 2016, @12:59AM
Good for them, even if it's entirely too late.
When you live in a sick society, everything you do is wrong.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by GungnirSniper on Saturday May 07 2016, @01:32AM
Where can one get unmodified, uninfected Windows installers? After reading about the Disturbing Decline of Sumner Redstone [fortune.com] how could anyone trust C|Net's Download.com ever again?
How can anyone trust a man who doesn't know when he's culminated?
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Subsentient on Saturday May 07 2016, @02:51AM
Get them from the homepage of the software you want. Don't ever use download sites. Ever.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by Bill Dimm on Saturday May 07 2016, @01:59PM
People seem to like chocolatey [chocolatey.org], which is supposedly like apt-get for Windows, but I've never tried it.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Saturday May 07 2016, @02:06AM
What is flypaper in this context?
(Score: 3, Informative) by fleg on Saturday May 07 2016, @02:20AM
yeah i wondered that too. best i can do is...
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=COFHF-a9zawC&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33#v=onepage&q&f=false [google.com.au]
which seems to suggest its about the javascript needed to mouse click on an object on screen, then drag it (the object) around as you move the mouse, like the object is "stuck" to your pointer, ie the flypaper effect.
then theres also this...
"FlyPaper is an add-on to Paper.js for creating javascript animations in the HTML5 canvas. FlyPaper grew from an initial desire to allow easy debugging of more complicated systems, quickly displaying variables directly on the canvas so I didn't have to console.log them at 5 - 50 frames per second. Additionally is adds basic functionality [ dragging and dropping, rotating, selecting, pull-bars ] and motions [ swing, bob, custom ] to shapes or groups of shapes. Lastly, it allows you to register objects to listen for events, or publish events for other shapes to respond to."
from https://github.com/acousticrobot/FlyPaper [github.com]
anyway web devs out there care to confirm/correct?
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 07 2016, @02:27AM
They are the ads where as long as you are in the ad area, the mouse moves to where they want you to click. I can't find an example off hand, but basically, once you get into the ad area, your mouse is stuck there, like flypaper.
(Score: 2) by fleg on Saturday May 07 2016, @02:42AM
wow, havent seen that! but then i'm running blockers etc
thanks for the info anon.
(Score: 1) by claywar on Saturday May 07 2016, @02:27AM
Well, I really don't. At least I haven't since the late 90s, early 2000's. Hell, I'm surprised they're still around.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Saturday May 07 2016, @02:54AM
I hadn't either, probably not in 15+ years, thanks to egregious BS from their website. And when I complained, was told tough shit, we gotta make money.
But I've been in touch with various Ting people over the past year, and so far have been very pleased with their responsiveness, even when I was unlikely to become a customer. If that's the direction Tucows as a whole is going, I'm willing to give them a chance to redeem themselves.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 07 2016, @03:48AM
re Ting: You gotta suck up if you are the underdog.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 07 2016, @08:08AM
Wasn't there a Netrek server on Tucows?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 07 2016, @12:20PM
In a few quarters after revenue takes a drop, the new genius CEO will see the future is in monetization of the downloads business. And get a HUGE boners for it.
(Score: 2) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Saturday May 07 2016, @03:54PM
Now that the entire universe has gone to repositories (RPMs, Maven, MacPorts, Cygwin, etc) and app stores (Google Play, Apple, etc), this old shareware site decides to change its ways? I vaguely remember it from the 1990s.
(E-mail me if you want a pizza roll!)
(Score: 2) by halcyon1234 on Sunday May 08 2016, @03:02AM
"Ad revenue is drying up and it's more expensive to run shitty ads than not to run them. ALL FOR YOU!"
Possibly other translation:
"Some exec's bonus is tied to the number of downloads / visitors, and ads are harming that. So they've unilaterally decided to cut ads to increase traffic. Expect a change in management in the next quarter or two, depending on when the bonus is paid out."
Original Submission [thedailywtf.com]