Recent changes in selected downloads at aggregate file site MacUpdate.com have caused
some consternation among long-time users, including some optional offers for other programs that appear while users are installing an update. Though the optional installs (including a SearchAssist browser toolbar and alleged "clean-up" program MacBooster) are marked with clear "skip" or "install" buttons, many of MacUpdate's users are concerned about the safety or usefulness of the offers.
MacNN spoke with the founder of the site to get the story straight from the source.
The site, which has been running for 17 years and offers over 40,000 Mac apps, lists updates to apps on a daily basis in a list format, along with key information about the app, developer contact or site information, reviews and comments from other users, pricing information for paid apps, as well as discount offers on selected apps. The site is free to use, but offers a paid option ($20 every six months) that removes all ads from the site and allows users to handle downloads, installs, and the cleanup of installs automatically with a MacUpdate desktop app.
MacNN recently had a conversation with MacUpdate founder J. Mueller to get some clarification about the changes, which don't impact users of the MacUpdate Desktop software or other paid site subscribers. Mueller described the testing of the as mostly a learning process for him and his team on what is happening with other download sites, and more in the interest of finding out what others are doing badly. He noted that most visitors come to the site, read the list, download their updates and go -- leaving little opportunity for users to support the site so that it stays functional.
This is, says Mueller, precisely what led some of his chief rivals -- sites like CNET's Download.com and Softonic.com -- to experiment with adding additional installers, advertising or app discovery offers appearing while a file is being downloaded, and other possibilities to generate income. Sadly, he added, these sites haven't adopted standards for what types of programs can pay to be included in downloads, resulting in known malware sometimes accompanying the legitimate file the user is trying to get.
"Fear not," Mueller said in response to a question about whether long-time users should be concerned about MacUpdate's testing of similar techniques. "We are not planning to go in the same direction [as CNET and Softonic]. We are learning about this process ... and testing it on only one percent of our hosted apps. We are focused on problem-solving, and the Mac community is very important to us." He added that more information would be made available to users once the testing phase is further along, but that the goal of the optional install offers is to learn about how the process works, how users who see it respond to it, and how to avoid the mistakes rivals have made.
Custom installer free users see on some downloads
Currently, a percentage of files (including some well-known app updates, currently including Firefox but previous tested on a Skype install) will download a combo "MacUpdate installer" rather than the direct updated file for visitors to the site who are not members (a limited membership is free of charge). The installer will post offers for optional additional installs, such as the Search-Assist toolbar, but does not require that users install it. It does, however, require that users click the "skip" button if they don't want it, or the "accept" button if they do. The unadulterated Firefox update is then installed, and if the user chose to add the toolbar, that is installed as well.
Optional installer included with Firefox update
Long-time users, including Thomas Reed of Malwarebytes.org, have expressed concern that the optional installs may constitute "adware" or otherwise give themselves privileges that the user is not aware of or didn't intend to agree to if they opt to install the extra software, and that the move opens the door to malware or "nuisanceware" developers, such as MacKeeper, paying to get their software included in a future form that removes the explicit user agreement action.
Mueller acknowledged the concerns, but said the optional installs would not go in that direction, and instead portrayed the move as a way to offer legit developers more opportunity for app discovery and to improve the overall install process -- alongside a way to monetize the services offered by MacUpdate when the majority of users don't pay to become update subscribers. The MacUpdate desktop application, and the "MacUpdate installers" that include other offers, both intend to make the install process more like the "clean" technique used by iOS applications, in that all the package-opening, install progress, and file cleanup afterwards is handled by the more advanced installer rather than the user.
His message to the community is that the current experiment is exactly that: an experiment designed to help the team learn more, and discover the advantages and disadvantages of install-based advertising or app-discovery offers. The site wants to find out how many users opt to take up the offers, how many refuse them, how to make the offers more attractive, and of course how to monetize users who are using the site's services but not otherwise supporting its operation. "Advertisers now consider an install ad opportunity much more valuable than [the traditional] display ads," Mueller noted.
Paid users do not get the augmented installer packages, he said, and are "very important people to us. We want to get more into app discovery, and we want to give paid users more flexibility to go beyond just updating their present apps and into how to better find new apps." The clean, automatic installs that paid users currently enjoy can be adapted to free users, since many users do not really understand the install process (or uninstall process) well, and can have many leftover files or encounter issues as a result.
"We're focused on learning and problem-solving, and evolving to keep up with the industry as it is today," he added. "At the end of the day, I think we're going to come away with a better service and a better site ... the key here is for developers to support the concept of an enhanced installer process, and understanding the value of the installer" as a moment where they can both make the experience easier and reach the user directly with relevant information, offers, or related app discovery.