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The Internet Spam

A Gator By Any Other Name 373

Posted by simoniker from the snappy-response dept.
MFS! writes "CNet reports that Gator, everyone's favorite ad software, is changing its name to Claria. Gator's CEO says "We feel that the Claria Corporation name will allow us to better communicate the expanding breadth of offerings that we provide to consumers and advertisers." He fails to mention what "Claria" is supposed to mean or how it accomplishes this goal, but it seems that the name change may be no more than an attempt to distance the company from a moniker which has become involved in allegations of spyware."
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A Gator By Any Other Name More

A Gator By Any Other Name

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  • Gator is evil (Score:4, Funny)

    by nucal ( 561664 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:53AM (#7346071)
    ... but I'd be happy to install Claria.
    • In other news... our weapons for cleaning this crap off have not changed their names:

      Spybot [safer-networking.org]

      Ad-Ware [lavasoft.de]

      Davak

    • Re:Gator is evil (Score:4, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:18AM (#7346178)
      127.0.0.1 localhost
      127.0.0.1 ads.osdn.com
      127.0.0.1 claria.com
      127.0.0.1 gator.com

      nuff said.

      - Moomin

      • Re:Gator is evil (Score:3, Interesting)

        by bedessen ( 411686 )
        Why do people cling to this retarded 'hosts' method of blocking things? It's the fucking stone age. It leaves a stupid broken image icon for every "blocked" picture. It fails even more ungracefully if you actually HAVE a web server on localhost. It has absolutely horrible granularity -- either you block everything (ad images, non-ad images, legitimate HTML, stylesheets, ...) or nothing from a particular host.

        Try something like privoxy, which will replace those images with a 1x1 transparent image, so th

    • Re:Gator is evil (Score:5, Informative)

      by anakin357 ( 69114 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @09:06AM (#7346378) Homepage
      I work at a rather large ISP, and strangely enough, when there is obvious adware installed, when I tell them it's downloading advertisements and such, they actually beleive the ads are coming from websites they visit (sometimes ours).

      I actually had someone the other day accuse our homepage of popping up pornographic advertisements. The very first thing out of my mouth was, "Have you installed KaZaa?"

      He reluctantly agreed, and said "Oh, so it's KaZaa?"

      "Yep, you need to get rid of that junk"...

      Here's my point: People are stupid. Changing their name once every couple years lets them stay ahead of the curve, because remember, Chrismas is coming, and we'll have another ~5-10 million (guessing here) computer users on the internet. When a screen pops up saying would you like to syncronize your time, keep a calendar, be able to see the current weather conditions, etc etc, they think: "Well wouldn't that be cool?"

      The answer is no.

      • We need a goddamn fix and there's money in it (Score:5, Insightful)

        by 0x0d0a ( 568518 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @10:13AM (#7346812) Journal
        Currently, there are a couple vendors that provide "remote, automated guru service". Symantec and a few antivirus vendors look for malware using a series of tests devised and constantly updated by experts, and then applied to many, many computers.

        Ad-Aware searches for spyware and adware.

        Windows Update searches for updates to Microsoft software.

        There are websites that will scan your computer for basic remote security holes.

        The problem is that there is a growing number of components that do automated guru tasks, because there isn't enough gurus, enough time, or enough money to take a guru out to each house or even work each machine remotely. People don't need to know about each field, as a result, but *do* need to be aware that such software is necessary in each field and run it/buy it/whatnot. What's needed is some (probably commercial and relatively inexpensive) comprehensive "Complete Computer Maintenance Service". It'd do automated virus checking (might do a partnership with Symantec to use their engine), look for spyware/adware, provide updates from *all* software vendors, warn about security issues with your current setup, look for common misconfigurations, warn about discontinued software that you're still using, provide simple flowchart based troubleshooting and possibly fix-it wizards (Outlook doesn't work), etc. The big benefit is that currently almost all home machines are unadministered, and this could be done quite cheaply, because it scales. Hell, OEMs could bundle service like this.

        The important thing is that each machine must *never* require actual individual attention from a human being, or else costs shoot up (though perhaps optional commercial phone support could provided as a separate service). The base service should be on the order of $10/month at most. It'd keep IT costs down and keep small businesses and home systems much more maintained than they are now.

        My suggestions here were somewhat Windows-centric, mostly because most current Linux folks *need* someone else administering their box, but that will probably change as well.

        This is also something that "Joe Sixpack" publications like PC World could easily review ("service foo caught more problems on our ten test machines that service bar did").

        Finally, a corporate version of this service could also be sold to even places that can afford in-house IT staff (one that pops up its reports on a centralized control machine in an IT center). That makes a *good* first pass for IT personnel (so they don't blow time on ordinary tasks), helps keep up on problems with specific software that no single IT guy can possibly keep up on, and makes the service money.
        • The problem is that there is a growing number of components that do automated guru tasks, because there isn't enough gurus, enough time, or enough money to take a guru out to each house or even work each machine remotely.

          True, but there are plenty of unemployed "web developers" (html or frontpage monkeys) who could be perhaps taught to troubleshoot these enough to run adaware and cleanup a machine.

      • It's amazing how much of a problem people have with these fundamental attribution errors. My company has been accused several times of adding people's email addresses to porn spam lists ("it couldn't have been anybody else, we bought stuff from you 3/4/20 days before we started getting porn spam!"), breaking computers ("my computer won't boot anymore, it must be your screensaver"), and so on.

        I know technology is confusing, but god, it's frustrating when no matter how hard you try to be honest and release

  • The real question is: (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bl1st3r ( 464353 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:53AM (#7346072) Homepage Journal
    How long will it be before they start suing people for calling Claria spyware? Its inevitable. Thats what the software does. Noone wants to be advertised at, especially without their knowledge on their own computer.

    We put up with commercials in TV because a TV is relatively cheap. But when most users pay 2000+$ for their computer, and then have programs installed without their knowledge with other programs, then of course the terms will be created.

    Claria == Spyware (now im the first to say it)

    • Re:The real question is: (Score:5, Informative)

      by Davak ( 526912 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:00AM (#7346111) Homepage
      Quote from their page...

      Claria Offers Multiple GAIN Network Ad Vehicles To Meet Your Campaign Objectives:

      Instant Message Sliders
      Instant Message Pop Ups
      Pop Unders
      Tag-A-Long Sliders
      Flash and Rich Media

      Okay, they attack using instant messaging, sliders, and pop under windows.

      Spyware or not--this guys are using advertising methods that they are evil.

    • We put up with commercials in TV because a TV is relatively cheap. But when most users pay 2000+$ for their computer,...

      Okay, so by your theory, if I buy a new plasma flat-panel at $2,500 or so, I will suddenly become outraged the next time I see a floor wax commercial?

      Conversely, if I buy an eMachine at $400, I'm pretty mellow with Gator on my box?

      Hello?

    • I put up with commercials on TV because thats what pays for TV content.
      Gator is more like telemarketing than tv commercials. If I am paying for internet access they have no legal right to hijack my internet connection just to bombard me with ads. I pay for my phone not telemarketers.
      We must make it clear to gators err.. clarias clients that we will never by a product or service from thaem just because they advertised to through thoe means. Only then will companies like this die a slow and torturous death

      • Re:The real question is: (Score:5, Interesting)

        by AKnightCowboy ( 608632 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:29AM (#7346227)
        Gator is more like telemarketing than tv commercials. If I am paying for internet access they have no legal right to hijack my internet connection just to bombard me with ads.


        Gator is basically just malware like any other virus or trojan. Just because a company produces it and claims it has a valid purpose doesn't make it any less evil. The CDC started claiming BackOrifice2k was a remote administration tool, but that didn't make it any less frustrating to find someone had compromised your system and installed it on there without your knowledge to take control of your machine.

        Everyone whose computer I have ever found Gator (and tons of other spyware) on has had no idea what it does or how they installed it. They click on some link (these are teenagers for example.. they're click happy) and suddenly they have a wonderful new time syncing app or a datebook! Great right? Well, until their computer eventually slows to a halt and starts crashing, personal information is spewed out across the Internet without their consent, and/or their computer is used as some kind of distributed cracking node without their knowledge. McAfee, Symantec and others need to be forced to accept that malware like Gator IS a virus and needs to be cleaned from a system. We shouldn't have to use yet another malware cleaner like Adaware to get rid of it. If Gator and other spyware made it VERY clear they were installed and cooperated 100% with the add/remove programs in Win2k to completely remove themselves and ALL their components when you remove them then I wouldn't have such a huge issue with shareware software installing it. It's an annoyance at that point, but easily remedied like having an AOL icon created on your desktop.

        • And this is why this sort of software should be called RAPEware.

          Last I checked, violating someone without his/her consent, against his will, and giving him no ability to stop it when he asks to is called RAPE in the English language.
          I see no reason why the term cannot apply to one's computer.
        • "They click on some link (these are teenagers for example.. they're click happy) and suddenly they have a wonderful new time syncing app or a datebook!"

          Ha, that's one reason I popped for XP *Professional* for the family computer. Only the administrator account can install software. Definitely worth the extra $100, if you must run MS Windows at all.
    • Claria-- The spyware formerly known as Gator.

      Oh Drat. Now I am going to get a cease and dissist letter.....

    • The real problem (Score:5, Interesting)

      by t0ny ( 590331 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:30AM (#7346231)
      As the parent post said, Gator/Claria is essentially forcing unwanted advertising down the throats of computer users.

      Another casualty is performance: these spyware programs arent just tracking your usage and pushing advertising, they are consuming finite computer resources in the form of processing power, networking bandwidth, and memory space.

      I have seen firsthand what all of these programs do to a corporate environment, and it is just as bad (if not worse) than a virus. The difference between a virus and spyware is that the former can kill or corrupt your computer, while the latter weakens and sufficates it.

      Since these computers have no protection against the spyware, this causes many effects- all of which bleed resources from the company.

      1) degraded computer performance: the worker now has to work slower

      2) increased network bandwidth consumtion: this degrades network performance for the entire company, as well as again consuming an ever-growning share of a finite resource (WAN bandwidth)

      3) increased computer support: the time and expense involved in having somebody diagnose and fix the problem effecting the client computer(s)

      Once you start trying impliment a solution, a company is forced to spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of man-hours planning and implimenting a solution to stop all the spyware.

      I would encourage companies to start taking legal action against these spyware companies. What they are doing is every bit as bad and immoral as releasing computer viruses into the wild.

      • *sigh* These programs can do very little to a corporate environment, because *you control the routers*. See floods of inappropriate traffic with certain address ranges? Sixty seconds of ACL editing makes those ranges disappear from the Internet (so far as your network can tell) and the adware starves.

        If your users are on any recent version of MS Windows, you also control the directory and so the workstations. Add a policy forbidding Win32 to run known ad/spyware executables. Push out a startup script
    • TV is relatively cheap

      I was thinking the other day that I spend $40/mo to watch 20+- minutes of advertising/hour. My TV/surround setup is probably worth about $2000. Something is wrong with the whole picture.

      • "I was thinking the other day that I spend $40/mo to watch 20+- minutes of advertising/hour. My TV/surround setup is probably worth about $2000. Something is wrong with the whole picture."

        Something certainly is. I paid less than $250 for a very nice 27" TV from a respected manufacturer, and a bunch of networks send me programming through the air for free. You got a raw deal indeed.

    • Re:The real question is: (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jrumney ( 197329 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:49AM (#7346306)
      Ad banners on websites that are placed there by the website owner are like TV advertising. In both cases, the advertising revenue is paying for content which you would otherwise have to pay for (or pay more for). Gator is something else entirely. There is no up side to Gator advertising. You don't get any free content in return. All the ad revenue goes straight into Gator/Claria's pocket.

      Maybe they are right about it not being spyware (who knows what information it is sending back, but maybe it is none), but it is certainly SPAMware.


    • We put up with commercials in TV because a TV is relatively cheap. But when most users pay 2000+$ for their computer, and then have programs installed without their knowledge with other programs, then of course the terms will be created.


      Your analogy DOESN'T WORK. TV != Ineternet or a computer. The mediums are different. The intentions are different. Hell, their initial uses were different too.. academia vs entertainment.

  • Translation (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Davak ( 526912 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:53AM (#7346073) Homepage
    We feel that the Claria Corporation name will allow us to better communicate the expanding breadth of offerings that we provide to consumers and advertisers."

    Translation: "We feel that changing your name will allow us to continue our evil actions under a different alias... and continue to profit."

    • Re:Translation (Score:5, Funny)

      by KDan ( 90353 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:04AM (#7346131) Homepage
      Or better:

      "We feel that the numerous clueless users whose cluelessness we take advantage of have started to become aware that 'Gator' is something they don't want on their machines so we are changing our name to confuse them and keep ahead of them."

      Next names lined up: Cuddly-Web, Patriot, Love, Upgrade, MS Windows Update, iloveyou.exe. Daniel

    • Re:Translation (Score:3, Interesting)

      by swordboy ( 472941 )
      Actually, many ISPs had blocked off stuff from Gator's networks so they needed a new non-gator DNS from which to generate pop-ups.

      I build PCs for friends and family occasionally and now I will need to update the HOSTS file on all of them or this shit will get reinstalled.

      I can't believe that open-source isn't addressing this issue and that we will have to wait for Microsoft to come up with a *real* solution (shudder). Is this the only use for trusted computing?

      Seriously, there are some freeware programs

      • Re:Translation (Score:3, Insightful)

        by 0x0d0a ( 568518 )
        I can't believe that open-source isn't addressing this issue

        It has. I run Linux quite happily, and have never run into the slightest set of problems with things like Gator. There just isn't any spyware. (There is, incidently, a piece of software called "chkrootkit", which is about the only thing currently needed. Well, unless you count "spamassassin", though I'm not sure you were thinking of spam originally. Those two pieces of software nicely pick up the vaguely unpleasant things that people might s

    • Re:Translation (Score:5, Funny)

      by blowdart ( 31458 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:57AM (#7346345) Homepage
      Clearly
      litigous
      and
      rotten
      internet
      avertisers

    • Re:Translation (Score:3, Insightful)

      by TopShelf ( 92521 )
      Taken right out of the playbook of Phillip Morris, err... Altria!
      • I was thinking the exact same thing. Like adding the 'altr' from altr-uistic or whatever makes them good. Adding anthing relating to clarity doesn't make gator better. It just means they'll find more victims^W clients.

  • A gator's got teeth (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dancin_Santa ( 265275 ) <DancinSanta@gmail.com> on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:54AM (#7346080) Journal
    It likes to bite. You go down to the watering hole and it jumps up and grabs you by the neck and forces you to install it.

    Claria is a social disease. You get it by going to websites that specialize in doing dirty things. Those who get it are usually unaware that they have it, and they are no doubt not using virus protection.

  • Minor correction... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DjMd ( 541962 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:56AM (#7346092) Journal
    The CEO said "We feel that the Claria Corporation name will allow us to better communicate the expanding breadth of offerings that we provide to consumers and advertisers"...
    Instead of communicate he ment to say obfuscate. Its an understandable mistake...

    Crap by and another name still sticks to the bottom of your shoe and smells bad...


  • Standard procedure (Score:5, Insightful)

    by heironymouscoward ( 683461 ) <heironymouscowar ... .com minus punct> on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:57AM (#7346093) Journal
    Excellent trick, tried by Monsanto when they were grilled for producing genetically hacked foods, favoured by nuclear power stations when they have bad leaks, and above all by tin-pot dictators who think that calling their ruined country by a new name will attract a new generation of foreign investors.

    Crap is crap by any name. This kind of maneouver just confirms that they feel they have something to hide.

  • Claria is spyware!!! (Score:3, Informative)

    by night_flyer ( 453866 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:59AM (#7346101) Homepage
    I hope slashdot doesn't get forced to remove [slashdot.org] this now...

  • Changing Names (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CGP314 ( 672613 ) <CGP@ColinGregor y P a lmer.net> on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:59AM (#7346104) Homepage
    Makes me think of how Philip Morris changed its name to Altria (Sounds like they are now altruistic) or how Palladium was changed to Next Generations Secure Computing Platform Whatever. (Sounds like they are trying to make your computer safe)

    They don't change the business, they just try to run from their (well deserved) reputation.

    • Name changing is a constant game. The Boards need something to do when they aren't merging/acquiring or changing the reporting structure of the company. They have to earn their somewhat inflated pay.

      My favorite stupid name change is the one proposed by the board of PWC Consulting prior to being bought out by IBM: Monday. I think IBM bought them out just to keep their employees from dying of embarrassment!

    • The Pasadena Plastics Complex became Houston Chemical Complex after a huge explosion in that small town.

      Same old story, and the sad thing is it works. Just when I finally have the family computer users able to remember that Gator is bad, I have to work on another name for them.

      I'm going to thinkgeek.com and getting one of those No I will not fix your computer t-shirts.

  • Never name your company the same as your product (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Brento ( 26177 ) <brento.brentozar@com> on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:00AM (#7346112) Homepage
    He fails to mention what "Claria" is supposed to mean or how it accomplishes this goal

    It just illustrates why you don't name your company after a single product line. If that product turns out to have bad side effects (like cancer or flipping SUV's over) then you need to change the company name so prospective investors and customers don't think it's the only thing you do.

    Did you know Bridgestone is the parent company of Firestone? Of course you didn't. And while you would probably think twice about buying a Firestone tire for your SUV (even though it was only one model of tire involved out of Firestone's entire lineup), you wouldn't think twice about putting on a Bridgestone tire.

    Likewise, if Gator wanted to come out with a second product tomorrow, they couldn't - because who would install Gator Calculator or whatever? Nobody. But who would install Claria Calculator? The same millions of users who installed Gator.

    • Tyres (Score:5, Informative)

      by Gordonjcp ( 186804 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:06AM (#7346143) Homepage
      Don't forget, though, that there really wasn't anything wrong with the Firestone tyres. Ford stupidly told customers to run at absurdly low pressures to improve the stability of a badly-designed vehicle, and since the tyres were being used out of spec, they failed. Everyone knows blowouts are caused by running on soft tyres (or they should).

      I run Firestone tyres on one of my Citroens, because they are the closest to the proper Michelin X tyres (which aren't made in 145SR15 any more). Never had a problem with them.

  • Claria is the name of my ex-wife (Score:5, Funny)

    by armando_wall ( 714879 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:02AM (#7346122) Homepage

    She used to read my mail without my consent.

  • Claria? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:05AM (#7346134)
    Maybe "Chlamydia" would be a more appropriate name..

    Hey man, I just installed Chlamydia!
    Can you get rid of it?
    I dunno, I think I gotta go see an expert.
  • Claria sounds like a blobule type of animal; I highly reccomend either a clear yellow blobule, or brown-to-light brown blobule with either a smooth or coarse texture.

  • In the spirit of Googleism (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ratface ( 21117 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:06AM (#7346139) Homepage Journal
    Top hits for "Claria is" on Google...

    Claria is looking for talented web developer with strong design and Java development and skills.

    Claria is a top quality commercial headset at a very reasonable price.

    Claria is supposed to be adorable but..ehm...please, be kind...give her back her bunny doll?

    Claria is a trademark of Claria.

    Claria is generally considered one of the best universities in the world

    Claria is a brown eyed, brown haired, rather voluptuous 27 year old woman of average height.

    Claria is the leading strategic hiring partner for technology start-ups

    claria (TM) is a registered trademark of Claria Headsets

  • I'm surprised . . . (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Momomoto ( 118483 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:19AM (#7346182) Homepage
    That Clarica [clarica.com] hasn't complained about Gator's new name being so similar to theirs.

    If I were in the life insurance business you'd better believe I wouldn't want my name associated with something so malicious as spyware.

  • I just mailed claria.co.uk the headphone company (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:20AM (#7346188)
    And asked them nicely to investigate any legal avenues they might have in relation to challenging gator. They may or may not react, but I think we should support them if they decide to take action. Certainly this story should be covered, to give them something to distinguish themselves from a potential PR disaster.... so Slashdot articles could send traffic their way. But only if they have the balls to stand up to these spyware bastards... or at least speak out against them.

    I feel it is the least we can do to help some small company which will no doubt have to change it's name because of all this.

    It's sad really. Much is ill in the world.

  • Overflow them! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rabalde ( 86868 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:38AM (#7346262) Homepage
    They install a program on your machine that sends data over your connection about your behavior, right?. So, why don't we give them what they're are asking for? Why don't develop a program to send fake data to the server that gator is connecting to? If the data is credible (=random but correct), they have a mountain of crap data about users ... and voila, their business plan is useless
    • You first.
    • When Gator sends this credible-looking (but purposely inaccurate) data to their clients, the clients turn around and use it to decide what types of advertisements to put on what web pages. By following your plan, we'll end up seeing ads for products you'd never buy in a million years on web pages with a completely different focus from the product being pushed. If I see an ad for adult diapers or whatever on, say, Gamespot, there's no way I'm gonna click it. But if I happen to see a good deal on RAM or a

  • Just like Palladium (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Quizo69 ( 659678 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:39AM (#7346269) Homepage
    "Hmmm, this Palladium of ours seems to be garnering a lot of bad press lately. I know, we'll call it NGSCB so no one will know what it really does!!" - Microsoft stooge.

    "Man, this Total Information Awareness idea of ours seems to be upsetting those pesky privacy advocates. I know, we'll call it Terrorism Information Awareness, then if the privacy advocates cry foul we can call them unpatriotic and lock them up at Guantanamo." - John Poindexter.

    Face it people, when a company/organisation changes the name of something to obfuscate it's true intentions, you know it's a bad thing.

    I say play them at their own game. Just call spyware "Clariaware" from now on.

    Quizo69

  • Instead of renaming themselves in a pathetic attempt to remove their undeniable links with spyware, why not just stop writing spyware, and instead write a piece of software that's actually useful for something.

    That way, people will download their software based on it's own merit, rather than having the new Claria spyware drive-by installed on them in the same fashion that the Gator spyware currently is.

    Changing your name to disassociate yourself from your past activities is something career criminals li

  • Just like ValuJet (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Mr. Dop ( 708162 )
    ...Changing to AirTran, will probably work for it in the short term, most people wont remember the change in the long term, and there fore the ruse will work unless they change their practices. And yes the public is that stupid.
  • I thought Gator had changed their name to Slimeware.com [slimeware.com]. It certainly looks like a similar sort of outfit. Hmm..
  • Reminds me of Carnivore [com.com].

    The FBI simply renamed it to DCS1000. "We had a concern that it wasn't a good name for the system".

  • It's called rebranding (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Aceticon ( 140883 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @09:10AM (#7346400)
    When a brand name has become a negative influence in the decision process that make consumers use (or not) a product, a standart industry strategy is to change the brand name.

    It makes all sense for them to do it. On the other hand it also shows that the Gator brand name has aquired negative associations in people's minds (or so the Gator, now Claria, corporation believes) - this is a victory of sorts for those that tried to inform people about the evils of Gator products.

    To maintain the pressure on this company, a possible strategy to follow is to inform people that Claria = Gator, thus maintaining the negative association in people's minds.

    PS: I suspect they paid some expensive marketing consultant that told them that "Claria" brings sub-conscious mental associations with Clarity.
  • In other news, Gator Corporation has changed its name to Claria Corporation. In still other, seemingly unrelated news, SPYWARE has changed its name to GATOR CORPORATION.



    (no)apologies to snl, lung cancer and altria...

  • Dear Gator^H^H^H^H^HClaria,

    Gator^H^H^H^H^HClaria is Spyware, you fuckers. Spyware. Spyware. Spyware.

    Please send me a nastygram. My career is stalled, and I could really use the publicity.

    Love,

    Wil Wheaton [slashdot.org] ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Chris Devers [slashdot.org]

    Linux/OSX weenie who doesn't even use your crappy SPYware.

    PS- It's spyware.

  • Is there a Linux port available?
  • I worked for a company called System Art for a while, they wrote CRM software. They decided the name was too vague(!) and lacked impact so spent weeks coming up with a new one - they even got the contractors involved (I ducked out) in brain storming sessions and role playing scenarios - one guy had to pretend to be Nelson Mandela visiting the company!

    In the end, after all the sh1t, they opted for one of the two names that the direcors had originally come up with (surprise, surprise).

    What was this new mir

  • Better name (Score:4, Funny)

    by glwtta ( 532858 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @09:30AM (#7346496) Homepage
    If they wanted better market perception, should've just changed their name to Philip Morris.
  • Claria is the
    Loathing
    Asinine
    Renamed
    Intrusion
    Applic ation

  • Clairia? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Griim ( 8798 )
    What the hell? That sounds like a little girl's name. Maybe they should call it something like Red Queen?

    "You're all going to die down here..."
  • Now I have to change my .sig again.

  • While "claria" has several latin meanings involving shining brightly or being clear or bright, whitaker's Words also cites it [nd.edu] as a "beetle infesting beehives."

    Niiiiice.

  • Sounds like the name of an STD.

  • How Smart! (Score:2, Funny)

    by fetus ( 322414 )
    In other news, Saddam Hussein has legally changed his name to Charlie Brown. George Bush and children around the world rejoice and they laugh together at the funny antics and antidotes of Iraq's leader and his funny dog Uday.

  • Why do Windows users get all of the ads?!?! (Score:5, Funny)

    by naelurec ( 552384 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @10:41AM (#7347016) Homepage
    Why is it that Claria only supports Windows?!! Am I, a FreeBSD user not worthy of being advertised to? No Gator, no popups in Mozilla .. Well .. atleast I still have my spam email..
  • Chlamydia.

    Come to think of it, so did the name Gator.

  • Domains to block... (Score:3, Informative)

    by jefftp ( 35835 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @11:02AM (#7347187)
    Here's a list of Claria's domains where downloads are available:

    gator.com
    claria.com
    searchscout.com
    precisio n-time.com
    weatherscope.com
    date-manager.com

    If you're running a web caching system, block on those domains and your users are protected from unnecessary help desk calls.
  • Maybe, just maybe, learning to speak clearly and fully and precisely would go a lot further toward communicating the breadth of their offerings to the customer than does replacing one meaningless noise with another.

    Maybe it was Friday afternoon, everybody was too full of unicorn to come up with anything useful, but they hadn't issued any memos lately to justify their existence, so: Claria!
  • "Always install software from Claria Corporation?"

  • Nameless names (Score:3, Insightful)

    by colmore ( 56499 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @11:16AM (#7347379) Journal
    This is a growing trend in corporate business. During industrial times companies were named after their primary product or, occasionally, the name of the founder.

    General Motors, International Business Machines, etc. etc.

    Now that corporations are increasingly involved in the amorphous "business" of owning each other and outsourcing, they'd rather people NOT know who they are. So brands are given memorable descriptive names, but the names of the financial entities behind them are designed to slide off the memory. Altria, Worldcom, etc.

    Frankly I find this all very scary. The current nightmare future of corporations replacing governments doesn't have any Gibson-like overtness to it. People won't swear allegiance to Coca-Cola or fight for the Microsoft army. Rather the entities with all the power in the world will gradually become more and more vague and more and more distant from the popular conciousness. And not as the result of some sinsiter conspiracy, but rather the natural result of market trends.

  • Dave Barry said it best: (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Brett Glass ( 98525 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @02:17PM (#7349649) Homepage
    Changing names is a sound idea, an idea based on the scientific principle that underlies the field of marketing, which is: People are stupid. Marketing experts know that if you call something by a different name, people will believe it's a different thing.

    That's how "undertakers" became "funeral directors." That's how "trailers" became "manufactured housing." That's how "We're putting you on hold for the next decade" became "Your call is important to us."

    --Dave Barry

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