The problem isn't that it's easy to set to no. The problem is that it's defaulted to yes
That means I can't just click next, next, next, install, finish without getting "infected", and the guys making these installers knows this - and takes advantage of it to make extra money.
Legally, it's sketchy at best - the EU has a law (I believe it's a law, at least, someone back me up?) against it defaulting to yes.
Morally, it's plain wrong and taking advantage of the innocent.
What the hell is wrong with users that you won't read the screen before clicking around on buttons!?
I've been dealing with a set of users at work who could easily help themselves and continue on with their work if they would actually, you know, read the dialog boxes I spent tons of time writing to explain to them why the operation they tried was not correct and how to do it correctly. They don't want "wizard" interfaces that take them step-by-step through things, but they clearly can't use form-based interfaces that provide every option at once.
I watch them, it is their job to use this computer to do their work. In every training session I've ran, if I can get them to slow down long enough to even notice that a dialog box displayed, then they easily figure out their next step and continue on. But if I let them go at their own pace, they get confused and don't even recall that a dialog box appeared in the first place.
And it's not just non-techies. Most of the programmers I've worked with don't read the compiler's error messages. All they do is double-click the line to jump to the section of code and then try to figure it out from there, often by random-walking changes to the code until they get something that compiles. "If it compiles, it's correct", apparently. Never mind that they could save themselves a ton of time and confusion to read the error message and realize that you can't call Substring on a float!
If there weren't pertinent information on those screens, in those messages, then the installation could be done automatically. "open, next, next, next" is inferior to "open" as a user experience, but those "next" steps are there because there is important information there.
>... but those "next" steps are there because there is important information there.
The OSX ecosystem would generally care to differ with you there, where the standard installation process is to drag a .app slightly to the right in the dmg that auto-mounts and auto-opens and shows you exactly what to do. Then you run it if you feel like it. Or even run it right from that window, it usually works, and quite a few applications will even detect it and offer to move themselves to your applications folder.
Contrast this with a very common Windows install, which is run -> tell where to extract -> skip welcome screen -> uncheck shortcuts and start menu -> install -> uncheck 'run now' and 'show readme' -> click 'finish'.
Sometimes there is important information in those steps. Very frequently there is not, and it's just a waste of time, and an annoyance. Just like the 'welcome' screen in those installers. Nearly all of that could have been done in one page, instead it's split into several, literally training people to just keep hitting next.
I find it borderline unethical too, I was just trying to state that minimally savvy users shouldn't worry that stuff is installed without them knowing.
"X installs Y" reads to me as something happening without any chance to avoid it.
Well, it's not always the ignorant, it's more of lazy minded. You usually don't install the stuff that often or in a such hurry that you can't read a single dialog with 3 simple sentences. People just don't care. And then they get funny search engines installed, which again half of them still don't really care about.
That means I can't just click next, next, next, install, finish without getting "infected", and the guys making these installers knows this - and takes advantage of it to make extra money.
This has to be one of the oldest tricks in the books, and you should never click next, next, next, install, finish. Even if it is legitimate software, I won't blindly keep clicking unless I know the installer from previous experience.
This is the equivalent of "I accept the T&Cs" and then complaining later that Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/whoever are doing something you didn't agree to when you never read the terms to start with (ok, bad example to some degree, I know those T&Cs can be legal and tricky to read but you get the point I'm trying to make)
<quote>ok, bad example to some degree, I know those T&Cs can be legal and tricky to read but you get the point I'm trying to make</quote>
I think it is a great example! The effort required to comprehend the terms for those is so onerous that a small fraction of users take the time to even try.
We might be in a better place if, when faced with such a situation, we declined to use the service because of the lengthy and opaque T&Cs.
Defaulting to "no" would be better, but I can't fully agree with you in the "innocent" part because the real problem are users that can't use a computer, and this is just a tiny annoyance compared to other things that can happen if the user "can't read" and clicks next, next, next without thinking.
I would rather say that this kind of behaviour is one of the tiny little things that make computers harder to use in general.
We all know of relatives that just use their computer for Facebook and Farmville, and get "infected" by a needless virus scanner and/or alternative browser every time they have to update Flashplayer.
It is so vicious that even people that are aware of this kind of practice may get caught. The fact that users "can't read" (but equally often programmers also "can't write") is no excuse.
It doesn't only affect users who don't know better. I can't tell you the number of times I've hurried through an installer only to realize I forgot to pay closer attention and uncheck a checkbox.
If I download a program and install it then that's my intention. I don't intend to install other software along side of it.
Just saying, this isn't an issue about people not knowing how to use a computer. It's a dark pattern that hurts everyone.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the case for me. I always uncheck boxes, always unsubscribe to newsletters that I'm pre-enrolled in and such. I haven't used DivX probably in a year or more, but all of the sudden the past several days it kept popping up asking me to update. I decided since some day I may need it I'd update it rather than just install it, or rather than spend time looking for an option to temporarily stop the pesky update request. I clicked install, was watching it go and drinking a coffee at at the last scene I say it blink on the screen about bing for less than a second then it automatically skipped to the next page. I wasn't able to read what the page said but I knew it had just probably installed some bing crapware. Listening to the other commenters it sounds like the auto advance/click issue was particular to me and not sure what caused it. But so in my particular case I didn't have an option to decline but for most everyone else who does there is still a high chance they will automatically click ok, since installers ask so many questions that require yes to continue and then they throw in one at the end they think you will ignore and click yes. That it is opt-in is one problem the farther bigger problem is uninstalling it. First in Chrome having to uninstall the plugin, then changing the new conduit homepage in Chrome, then needed to uninstall from Safari, as well as change the homepage back as well as change the default search engine. For Firefox it was more complicated as it even changes a 404 page. Then also found yesterday a new Conduit folder in my home directory. While for us technical people here it's not much of a challenge but think of your parents installed DivX. They most likely would have no chance of removing all of that and next time you visited them you would say mom I told you to use Google while are you using Bing. She'd say I don't know it just appeared one day (like on PC's where IE's toolbar is about 200 pixels high from add on toolbars). Also on Twitter they have been unapologetic and rude with some customers. Fortunately for me as mentioned I almost never use DivX so I simply installed the program and will never return, but people who use it often may have a harder time leaving it. Finally, to note, less than a week ago even Google Chrome alerted users downloading the PC version that the app included malware to which the company said just ignore that it's a false positive: http://forums.divx.com/divx/topics/chrome_warns_divx_update_... to which people then ignore it and wonder why all of their browser settings have changed.
It has a rather obvious "install conduit search powered by bing" checkbox.
Worth noting that uTorrent is doing exactly the same thing now. And for those who will immediately assume the worst, I installed it to grab the humble bundle that I'd just bought, surprised to see that what once was the micro and trustworthy uTorrent was now yet another piece of scumware.
I laughed that it also indicated that it would be auto-updated from thence forth. It is an unfortunate situation that updates in PC software now means "addition of crapware".
Tangential to the topic, but I can recommend Tixati as a new "I need a small, efficient, unbloated (with additional software) and free torrent client" alternative to what uTorrent has become.
It has a rather obvious "install conduit search powered by bing" checkbox. While this is defaulted to "yes", is very easily set to "no".