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Seems with the new toolbar going from beta to final they decided to push it onto all desktops.
Don't do this Google! Huge no-no! Can't you see all the flak Microsoft is taking for their automatic system update proposal? Don't touch my system without a warning and the ability to opt-out!
I was so surprised a company like Google would do an action like that. Very un-Google like.
I liked the old toolbar and I don't need any features in the new one. The old toolbar had a more compact layout since the search web button was integrated.
Now I have to rip out the v2 and reinstall the old one while blocking the auto-update.
Maybe, I'm just naive but my understanding of the 'other features' automatic updates is just like PageRank where the updates takes place at Google side, server side as oppose to client side. But nowhere it says that it would automatically update the toolbar in my computer(client side) for every new version that would come up. Nowhere!
This is how I interpreted it as well. Very disturbing that updates happen without my knowledge and consent. Google, there is absolutely no need for this. This is really not the time for you to start losing trust and credibility. Bad form.
"I'll mention a few things that most readers already know, but makes sense to repeat:
- The toolbar does auto-update when we have new versions. This is documented in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the toolbar help:
[toolbar.google.com...]
(dbowers also noted that we mention the auto-update in our privacy section.)
Google still works fine if you disable cookies (we won't be able to remember your search settings like languages though.)
Also, if you use the toolbar without the advanced features enabled, the toolbar is completely inert--it doesn't send any information to Google whatsoever as you surf.
If you are still worried about your privacy, you always have the option of not installing the toolbar. It's an advanced tool that we provide to users, and the opt-in for advanced features keeps most people happy. But if for some reason the toolbar makes you uncomfortable, then by all means don't run it."
We do our best to make a good tool that makes searching easier, but we want people to be comfortable and informed as they use it too. Thanks for the feedback from folks that thought putting it in the FAQ and privacy info wasn't conspicuous enough; I'll pass it on.
It was an obvious, conscious, technically informed, and more-than-likely a hotly debated policy within Google mgt to automatically update the toolbar. This is not something that happens by accident or because it was a good idea at 3am when it was programmed - this was decision full of malice. Add it to your red flag list.
As a person who chooses not to use IE and only has it installed to check that my code renders OK, I haven't been exposed to this insidious attempt by G to take over the browsing desktop world of IE users, so to all you unfortunate IE slaves out there ... you pays your money, you takes your lumps ....
Hooroo
JP
>>and I'm not aware of any features that went away
For some reason I can't find the back links button in my toolbar. Am I missing something as I didn't see this in the options either?
this was decision clearly full of malice
If the former, then I think it's pretty clearly time for me to bow out of this thread, because, well, I am not comfortable with the accusations flying around here and I don't think COMPANIES can be malicious anyway. People, of course, can be malicious, but I have friends who work at Google; I like them, I respect them, and it makes me unhappy to see them being indirectly called "malicious" (though I'll note for the record that none of my friends have done any coding for the Google Toolbar).
If you were being silly, then either you should have added some smilies or I just need to adjust my sense of humor (or both).
GG: ...I'm not aware of any features that went away...
unless I am really missing something, one BIG thing (for me) that went away in v2 was the ability to turn off the button for "search web", which is taking too much toolbar "real estate" for me when you add it to "search site" (which I use all the time - ultra handy) I prefer to just hit enter when i am ready to search
v1 could turn this off, v2 cannot - so there you go
I do not like Google automagically updating my toolbar.
I will seek alternatives.
Does it feel like scumware? Yes.
Does Google care about what I think? No.
Please, somebody out in the real world write about this issue so it doesn't just look like some angry WebmasterWorld folks going on about it...
Yahoo/Overture owns Gator/SearchScout.
Although it is not the same, Google must be held to a higher standard.
Chew
- The toolbar does auto-update when we have new versions. This is documented in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the toolbar help: [toolbar.google.com...]Which is after the fact that everybody have downloaded the Toolbar already!
(dbowers also noted that we mention the auto-update in our privacy section.)You quoted somebody...You, as Google PR person, show me, where in the process of downloading the Toolbar did it mention of Google automatically updating OUR Computers without our knowledge and consent?
You also seem to miss(or ignore) a few very important points!
1. I reinstalled the Toolbar and documented the step by step process as posted in msg #63. Never did it mentioned ANYWHERE that by downloading and installing the Toolbar that 'I agree for Google to automatically ugrade the Toolbar for every new version'. I challenge you to show it to me! New version is not and will never be considered as a feature or dismissed as 'other feature'.
2. Because of point 1, what is Google safeguards against possible conflicts on users computers? Sorry, we crash your computer? But, who is really to know that Google auto-update is the cause of the crash because Google silently, without notice changes the configuration. Nice way to wash your hand, huh?
3. In the event of a crash, would Google assume full responsibility of data loss? Of course not, because the Terms as usual is covered by the usual yada yada. If so, who the hell you are and your company to play God with my computer?
4. Where is/are the full disclosure of how Google update the Toolbar, what is/are being changed in the users computers, what else is/are being access in the users computers?? Can we trust you and your Google that you are only upgrading the toolbar and NOTHING ELSE?
What would you feel if you find your best friend inside your bedroom...with your wife...without your notice and consent...although they are 'just talking'? That's exactly what you guys are doing...invasion of privacy, possibly; thieving, spying, payload, download, etc...
Even the Law requires a warrant to search anybody's private property. In your case, your company took the liberty of going through the back door.
And Brett is right...this is a wanton disregard of a persons's rights and safety...there is malice in its intent whether you like it or not.
Furthermore, for those few ridiculous posts inferring that Google just made a mistake or that they are more incompetent than devious, you are naive in the extreme. Google has the revenue, the education, the experience and the talent that few other corporations have had in American history. NOTHING is happening by accident. There is no incompetence. There may be some "experiments" such as installing a search for related terms on Adsense without allowing any silly opt-out stuff, basically screwing over every content provider they had signed up, just to see how bad the PR backlash might be, but that is not the same thing as incompetence. THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.
Google is less organized than you give them credit for. Like every company they are not a monolithic decision-making entity. They are a collection of people, some of whom are good and talented, others less so. All of them have the capacity to make moral and technical errors that influence the services we use. As their headcount and ambitions have grown, the rate at which these errors occur has increased too. There are just too many critical decisions being made nowadays for all of them to go through one good mind like Sergey Brin's.
Of course there is incompetence -- everywhere, not just at Google. And there are definitely accidents! I don't think the related-searches-on-Adsense thing was some kind of premeditated plot to test the PR waters. I'm sure they had some idea that it would be controversial (and this toolbar thing too, et al) -- but some person or people at Google really thought they could get away with it; they underestimated how much website publishers value their space. And someone at Google is still underestimating how wrong it is not to give people a choice about auto-updating binaries. I'm glad we have this forum (and GoogleGuy's attention!) to show them our perspective so that they can go back and revise their wrongheaded estimates! :)
