

Google Earth updater now quietly updates all the Google apps - nickb
http://groups.google.com/group/google-earth-browser-plugin/browse_thread/thread/146882feca2788c3/de9af1aedf16f7de?pli=1

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lacker
The title is incorrect. The updater doesn't install all of the Google apps. It
just updates Google apps you do have installed when there are new versions
available.

~~~
mattmcknight
It also warns you when you are installing it. So it's not "silent", just
rather quiet.

That said, auto update is the only way I've seen to effectively distribute
security patches to the masses. I'd prefer an email. I just don't like the
whole concept of a service that is constantly sucking CPU and phoning home to
check for a patch that comes out every few months. Adobe, Java, Google,
Windows, Apple, and just about every "security" product out there- they are
all obnoxious software that could at least have the decency to be cron jobs
that run once per week.

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uuilly
This is becoming more and more the norm, at least on Windows. I recently
installed Office for the first time on my windows machine. At the end of the
installer there was a checkbox that said something like, "Make Live my default
search engine and make IE my default browser." I wish I had taken a
screenshot. Apple is just as guilty with their windows software. But it's
funny how some things are acceptable on Windows and not acceptable on macs.
It's like you expect people to pickpocket you in a bad neighborhood but not a
good one.

~~~
herval
Java asks to install OpenOffice too, by the way. :-)

~~~
nebula
If I remember correctly, I think it only offers to install(with default
behavior being no openoffice install).

I think it's a fair enough practice; you are installing java which is free,
and nothing wrong if they try to promote some stuff as long as they don't
trick/force you.

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raamdev
The Google Updater was causing problems for me on Mac OS X (it would
continuously fail to update), so I removed it. For anyone else also using Mac
OS X and wanting to remove the updater, you can read how here:

[http://blog.raamdev.com/2008/12/19/howto-remove-google-
softw...](http://blog.raamdev.com/2008/12/19/howto-remove-google-software-
update-on-mac-os-x)

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bd
It started already some time ago and it's doing it also on Windows, not just
on Macs:

 _Google Software Update sneaks its way onto computers_

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=387759>

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ewiethoff
Auto update is horrid for disabled people and those with other usability
issues. There you are happily using a product, and the next day you cannot.
I'm going to be a crabby old snot and say, perhaps Google would see things
differently if 99% of its employees were not so young and healthy. The trouble
is, Google isn't just a whiz-bang company with whiz-bang ideas. It's almost a
public utility.

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sspencer
"Don't be (visibly) evil."

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pasbesoin
On Windows a while back, I used Sysinternals' (now Microsoft) Autoruns to stop
their updater from launching on startup.

I don't remember whether the individual applications reversed this setting. I
seem to recall it sticking for at least a while.

[http://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/sysinternals/bb963902.asp...](http://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx)

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Guatejon
Jerks.....That explains why it kept phoning home.

