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> I think we’re all used to user-hostile software these days [...] Malware. Call it what it is. Software that intentionally subverts and acts against the user’
by Zambyte 5mo ago
> I think we’re all used to user-hostile software these days [...]
Malware. Call it what it is. Software that intentionally subverts and acts against the user’s intent is malware. It’s important to call malware what it is because people don’t even realize they shouldn’t use it when it’s not called malware. Instead, they get "used to" using malware.
- baggy_trough 5mo agoPlease do not call it malware, because it is not. It is just bad software UI.
- aprentic 5mo agoWhy not? It's a software feature designed to benefit Google at the expense of the user.
- baggy_trough 4mo agoBecause that is not what malware is.
- aprentic 4mo agoIt might not meet some pedantic definition of "Malware (tm)" but, for all intents and purposes, it fits perfectly.
- 3form 5mo agoIt's _badly intentioned_ (and not just UI). Blackmailing you with losing labelling, which worked fine before all that is a clear proof. So "malware" is not really so far off the point.
- j_maffe 5mo agoNot sure what you mean by blackmailing but it can't be the right word here.
- 3form 5mo agoFeature A exists for years. New feature B enters. If you want to opt out of feature B, you now need to opt out of feature A as well, which you probably liked much more. I don't know a better term than blackmail to describe this. Thesaurus seems to imply blackmail is for money, but so is extortion, and it doesn't give me good suggestions. EDIT: Coercion is more correct, but it's way too mild in my perception.
- baggy_trough 4mo agoThat sounds extremely dramatic when what we're talking about is features in a mail program.
- Zambyte 4mo agoA little malware is still malware.
- baggy_trough 4mo agoIt is not malware at all.
- xerox13ster 5mo agook then. Malformed Software. or, malware.
- Zambyte 4mo agoMalicious, not malformed. Malformed would include buggy software, which is not right. Malware intentionally acts against the users will. Buggy software unintentionally acts against the users will.
- Dylan16807 5mo agoBetween it being a website and harassment being the only harm, I don't think the term "malware" fits.
- tardedmeme 4mo agoDo casual computer users use the word "malware"? I think people only know the term "virus" but when I say "windows is a computer virus" everyone thinks I'm insane.
- Zambyte 4mo ago"Computer virus" is the wrong term, because it (neither Windows nor Gmail) does not spread and replicate itself through technical means. Computer viruses are a subset of malware, and it is more correct to say the general term in this case.
- tardedmeme 4mo agoThanks captain pedantic