[Loser]

First, DavidG, seatbelts and motorcycle eye-protection are both matters of public safety and work to prevent bodily injury. That hardly compares to ad/spyware.

Second, there's a whole heck of a lot of software built into just about every thing you install. If a software maker wants to take Gator's money and include it in their package they're responsible for that bit of subVersion, and are risking their reputation.

Also, David G., I've gotten that dialog box and I don't have Gator. The Internet Explorer can be set to demand confirmation for any ActiveX action, including the installation of software, and I'm fairly sure it defaults to asking confirmation for that specific action. Of course, if you installed an IE upgrade from a third-party vendor, like an ISP or OEM hardware vendor, tags can be set in the installation that change these defaults.

Software will always have bugs, always. Requiring that a company put anything more than their reputation on the line is just unfair. Add to that the strange and eldritch ways that certain pieces of software work fine separately but clash together and you're putting Atlas' burden on anyone who wants to make any piece of software. You don't want to take the risk, you don't install the software. Yeah, it's expensive, but the law doesn't guarantee cheap computer services, and I don't think it should.

[ October 24, 2003, 12:18: Message edited by: Loser ]