14 DAY TRIAL // Last year, several companies decided to bundle all kinds of additional utilities into their software installation packs, being attracted by money and other goodies offered to them. For example, ZoneAlarm got the Ask.com toolbar, so every new user who wants to install the security solution may also deploy the browser utility with a single click. Unfortunately, the toolbar installation comes checked by default, meaning that most users will apply it if they don't pay attention to the setup process. The agreements between software companies and toolbar developers have been long criticized, but top players such as Check Point, Webroot or Nero decided to bundle toolbars into their installation packs.
However, it seems like there are people who're not attracted by money when it comes to choosing between huge revenues and consumer satisfaction. Bill Pytlovany, developer of WinPatrol, today informed that the software will remain the same clean and toolbar-free application installed on thousands of computers around the world as he refused Ask.com's proposal to include the company's toolbar into his solution.
"Yesterday, I had a chat with a nice guy who does business development for IAC, the folks behind Ask.com. The sales pitch to include a toolbar with WinPatrol was compelling. I'm told that the my reputation wouldn't be affected and I would be providing my customers with a service by including the free toolbar. All the companies currently installing the toolbar are very happy. He even leaked the news that another well known Anti-Spyware vendor who would be moving to the dark side soon," Bill Pytlovany wrote on his blog.
"I'm going to have to pass and keep WinPatrol simple and pure. There will be a new version of WinPatrol later this month and it won't include any toolbars," he added.
Ask.com has adopted an interesting market strategy when it comes to promoting its own browser toolbar on the web. While Google and Yahoo, the main competitors of Ask.com, managed to promote their browser add-on through special flavors of Firefox and Internet Explorer, Ask.com attempts to pay huge amounts of money to popular software developers who are willing to bundle the toolbar into the installation files.