would this make my product an adware?

Hi.
I'm considering to include a feature in the freeware version of my product that displays banner advertisements to the user.Also,the program would monitor the user's activities to find out what his/her interests are and display related ads.I might even include a feature that displays extremely targetted ads,for example,if the user is typing an HTML document,then the program would display an ad from a web designing firm.However the ad(s) would be displayed only when the user is running the program,and no hidden software or cookies would be installed.Also,no information would be sent to any 3rd parties,or even me!All of this ads stuff would be removed in the paid version.
Please tell me if that makes my software an adware,if yes,what should i do to minimize the adware effect while not seriously reducing my revenue?

well what type of program is it? So far it sounds like spyware ;)...by tracking down what their activities. Give us some more information.

Ali,

To be quite honest, yes that would be adware

But that does not make it WRONG...............after all Jupm send me adverts?

Monitoring people's activities is WRONG..............don't do it

I guess you need to think it through?

Yes it would be adware. How would the ads be updated? They would have to be hard wired and would soon be outdated. In that case, it would have to phone home to know what the new pop ups would be.

If you ask me, strip the functionality of the software, and unlock or plugin the functions with the paid version. Or display banner ads on the gui? You could retrieve the banner ads from http and you could update the place they link to when you change the ad.

Otherwise, monitoring user activity aint cool. And pop ups suck.

there's nothing wrong with ad sponsored software or adware but traking how the product is used definitly make it spyware. IMO its theft of services and an invasion of privacy when you use the internet connection im paying for to conduct your survey with out my permission. ask people to fill out a form or make it so they have to fill out the form in order to use it. thats up-front and i dont think anyone would complain about that. you may get a few stupid replys but you product wont be deleted by spysearchers and shunned because of it.

Yes, that is adware/spyware. However:

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Also,no information would be sent to any 3rd parties,or even me!

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Then where is it going? Also are you alerting the people using your product that you are taking information from them and monitering their activities while this program is active? To me, it doesn't sound all to good of an idea to put all that into your program. Soda hit the nail on the head:

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monitoring user activity aint cool. And pop ups suck.

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Just something to think about:

Spyware is illegal in Holland, adware isn't.

Hi everybody.

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Yes it would be adware. How would the ads be updated? They would have to be hard wired and would soon be outdated. In that case, it would have to phone home to know what the new pop ups would be.
If you ask me, strip the functionality of the software, and unlock or plugin the functions with the paid version. Or display banner ads on the gui? You could retrieve the banner ads from http and you could update the place they link to when you change the ad.

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Thats what I'm going to do.I'll only display banner ads or text ads which'll be retreived from Http and incorporated into the GUI.However,there would be seperate categories of ads,and the program would monitor which websites the user goes to.if the websites he goes to include a keyword,say,"sports" a lot,then it'll retreive only sports related ads.No information would be given out to any 3rd parties.

I cannot strip the functionality of the software,because I have a bunch of competitors who are already doing that.I want to blow them away by providing my software for free and still earn revenue through advertising while they struggle to make a few sales. ;)

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there's nothing wrong with ad sponsored software or adware but traking how the product is used definitly make it spyware. IMO its theft of services and an invasion of privacy when you use the internet connection im paying for to conduct your survey with out my permission. ask people to fill out a form or make it so they have to fill out the form in order to use it. thats up-front and i dont think anyone would complain about that. you may get a few stupid replys but you product wont be deleted by spysearchers and shunned because of it.

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I'd like to have them fill out a form rather than track their activities.But in that case,is there anyway I'll display only the ads their interested in?I mean yea I could ask them to check all that they're interested in,and then provide a list of interests,e.g Computers,Sports,Money,etc.But how will I send this information to my proggie so it'll display only the ads related to their interests?

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are you alerting the people using your product that you are taking information from them and monitering their activities while this program is active? To me, it doesn't sound all to good of an idea to put all that into your program. Soda hit the nail on the head:

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Not alerting them as in displaying a message box or something.But I'm going to put up something on my website that tells them that the free version of the software is fully functional but it displays ads.I'd probably write it down on the page they go to when they're about to download the software.And I'll include a full description of the way their activities are monitered in the Privacy Policy.(would it cost me sales?)
I wont do pop ups,only banner ads or text links.Actually my program uses a Microsoft Agent Character,and I'll often have him speak out the ad text.It'll increase the probability of the user responding to the ad.

i'm sorry about not explaining all of this in the first place which caused a lot of confusion :D.
So,now that you know what I'm going to do,could you tell me what should i remove,replace,or add?

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Actually my program uses a Microsoft Agent Character,and I'll often have him speak out the ad text.

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Its going to advertise through SPEECH?

If it were me, and I heard your software talk, I would ditch your software quicker than you can say "Antionline Popups"

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Actually my program uses a Microsoft Agent Character,and I'll often have him speak out the ad text.

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I'd get a heart attack...ever got a porn popup that talks to you dirty? That **** aint funny if your speakers are on and your neighbor passes right by your door in an apartment!

haha :D

nah actually the software's job is to talk.The character's gonna talk the user through the process of using the software.And,in the talking,he's gonna churp in a few sentences of advertisement;)

hey Ali...its called Bonzi Buddy...and it aint cool! :D

I guess what you could do to make it less of a spyware type program is to have the adserver send banners, and the program [based on adaptive rules based on keyword preponderance] could reject them. This way there's no outbound traffic from your program to the server, but it might have the server do more work.

Honestly, I also think you should drop the speech advertising. It really sounds uncool and could be very disruptive for most users.

They way I see it yes it would be Adware.

Why don't you make it nagware and pop up a little disclaimer or something and make the user wait 5-10 seconds or something. This serves the same purpose of making the user want to get the full release without getting the nasty ad-ware/spy-ware tag added to it.

Let's have some fun with the agent..

add this to your website

Code:

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<script language="VBScript">
<!--
' * Character Objects
Dim Robby

' * Variables
Dim UsedChars
Dim RobbyID
Dim RobbyACS
Dim RobbyLoaded
Dim HideReq
Dim Req

' * Initialize
UsedChars = "Robby"

' * Robby
RobbyID = "Robby"
RobbyACS = "robby.acs"
RobbyLoaded = False


' * Prevent Auto-Download of Microsoft Agent if not already installed
If AgentInstalled() Then
    Document.WriteLn "<object id=""AgentControl"" width=""0"" height=""0"""
    Document.WriteLn "  classid=""CLSID:D45FD31B-5C6E-11D1-9EC1-00C04FD7081F"""
    Document.WriteLn "  codebase=""#VERSION=2,0,0,0"">"
    Document.WriteLn "</object>"

    Document.WriteLn "<object id=""L&HTruVoice"" width=""0"" height=""0"""
    Document.WriteLn "  classid=""CLSID:B8F2846E-CE36-11D0-AC83-00C04FD97575"""
    Document.WriteLn "  codebase=""#VERSION=6,0,0,0"">"
    Document.WriteLn "</object>"
End If

Function AgentInstalled()
    ' Purpose:  Returns True if Agent 2.0 is installed, else False
    On Error Resume Next

    Dim AgentControl

    If ScriptEngineMajorVersion < 2 Then
        AgentInstalled = False
    Else
        Set AgentControl = CreateObject("Agent.Control.2")
        AgentInstalled = IsObject(AgentControl)
    End If
End Function

Sub Window_OnLoad()
    ' Purpose:  Runs automatically when page is loaded
    On Error Resume Next


    Call AgentMain
End Sub

Sub AgentMain()
    On Error Resume Next

    If Not AgentInstalled() Then
        Exit Sub
    End If

    AgentControl.Connected = True

    RobbyLoaded = LoadLocalAgent(RobbyID, RobbyACS)

    If Not RobbyLoaded Then
            ' Attempt to load default character
            RobbyLoaded = LoadLocalAgent(RobbyID, "")
    End If

    If RobbyLoaded Then
        Call SetCharObj
    End If

    Call CheckLoadStatus
End Sub

Function LoadLocalAgent(ByVal CharID, ByVal CharACS)
    ' Purpose:  Attempts to load the specified character
    ' Returns:  True if successful, False if not
    On Error Resume Next

    If CharACS = "" Then
            AgentControl.Characters.Load CharID
    Else
            AgentControl.Characters.Load CharID, CharACS
    End If

    If Err = 0 Then
        LoadLocalAgent = True
        Exit Function
    End If
    LoadLocalAgent = False
End Function

Sub SetCharObj()
    ' Purpose:  Sets the character reference and TTS Language ID
    On Error Resume Next

    Set Robby = AgentControl.Characters(RobbyID)
    Robby.LanguageID = &H409
End Sub

Sub CheckLoadStatus()
    ' Purpose:  Determines if required characters have been loaded.
    '          If not, issue request to load next character
    '          else run the AgentIntro routine

    If Not RobbyLoaded Then
        Call LoadError
        Exit Sub
    End If

    Window.Status = ""
    Call AgentIntro
End Sub

Sub AgentControl_RequestComplete(ByVal RequestObject)
    ' Purpose:  Take action on completion or failure of requests
    On Error Resume Next

End Sub

Sub LoadError()
    Dim strMsg
    Window.Status = ""
    strMsg = "Error Loading Character: " & RobbyID
    strMsg = strMsg & Chr(13) & Chr(13) & "This Microsoft Agent Script requires the character(s):"
    strMsg = strMsg & Chr(13) & UsedChars
    MsgBox strMsg, 48
End Sub

Sub AgentControl_Click(ByVal CharacterID, ByVal Button, ByVal Shift, ByVal X, ByVal Y)

End Sub

Sub AgentControl_DblClick(ByVal CharacterID, ByVal Button, ByVal Shift, ByVal X, ByVal Y)
    ' Purpose:  Stop and Hide all characters on double-click
    On Error Resume Next

    Robby.StopAll
    If Not RobbyID.HasOtherClients Then
        If Robby.Visible Then
            Set HideReq = Robby.Hide()
        Else
            AgentControl.Characters.Unload RobbyID
        End If
    End If
End Sub

Sub InitAgentCommands()
    ' Purpose:  Initialize the Commands menu
    On Error Resume Next

    Robby.Commands.RemoveAll
    Robby.Commands.Caption = "My Menu Name"
    Robby.Commands.Add "ACO", "Advanced Character Options", "Advanced Character Options"
End Sub

Sub AgentControl_Command(ByVal UserInput)
    ' Purpose:  Determine Command that was selected either by menu or voice
    '          and run the applicable Command Script
    On Error Resume Next

    Dim BadConfidence
    BadConfidence = 10

    If (UserInput.Confidence <= -40) Then
        ' Bad Recognition
        Exit Sub
    ElseIf (UserInput.Alt1Name <> "") And Abs(Abs(UserInput.Alt1Confidence) - Abs(UserInput.Confidence)) < BadConfidence Then
        ' Bad Confidence - too close to another command
        Exit Sub
    ElseIf (UserInput.Alt2Name <> "") And Abs(Abs(UserInput.Alt2Confidence) - Abs(UserInput.Confidence)) < BadConfidence Then
        ' Bad Confidence - too close to another command
        Exit Sub
    Else ' High Confidence

        Select Case UserInput.Name
        Case "ACO"
            AgentControl.PropertySheet.Visible = True
        End Select

    End If
End Sub

Sub AgentControl_Bookmark(ByVal BookmarkID)
    On Error Resume Next

End Sub

Sub AgentIntro()
    On Error Resume Next

    Call InitAgentCommands

        Robby.Show
        Robby.Get "State", "Hiding"
        Robby.Play "Greet"
        Robby.Speak "Hey you !!!"
        Robby.Play "GetAttention"
        Robby.Speak "Yeah you . . . .                Lamer !!"
        Robby.Play "Acknowledge"
        Robby.Speak "You are using Windows and Internet explorer.."
        Robby.Speak "You invited me !!"
        Robby.MoveTo 300, 250
        Robby.Speak "Muahahahahaha!!"
        Robby.MoveTo 100, 150
        Robby.Play "Write"
        Robby.Speak "That's noted.."
        Robby.Play "WriteContinued"
        Robby.Speak "lamer using windows and internet explorer"
        Robby.Play "WriteContinued"
        Robby.Speak "having office or some other agent enabled software installed"
        Robby.Play "WriteContinued"
        Robby.Speak "heh.. let's have some fun.."
        Robby.Play "WriteReturn"       
        Robby.MoveTo 10,400
        Robby.Play "Read"
        Robby.Speak "Whell a clean install would do.."
        Robby.Play "ReadReturn"
        Robby.Play "Acknowledge"
        Robby.Speak "Why don't you go download a real browser?"
        Robby.Play "Think"
        Robby.Speak "Or better yet, a real Operating System...."
        Robby.MoveTo 300, 50
        Robby.Speak "not some 32 bit frontend to a 16 bit operating system, originally designed for an 8 bit CPU, with a 4 bit system bus, made by a 2 bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition."
        Robby.Speak "I hear the only place you're ever invited is outside."
        Robby.Hide
       
End Sub
-->
</script>

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Works on most win systems with internet explorer and that agent thingy

well... it depends on what kind of speech program it is...if it is a speech recording/meeting program, the user can get confused...usualy, if theres an ad-free alternative, the user will change to that program instead, so be careful

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Robby.Speak "not some 32 bit frontend to a 16 bit operating system, originally designed for an 8 bit CPU, with a 4 bit system bus, made by a 2 bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition."

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Hahaha, I like that.

Ali, I am just a consumer and from what I've read I'm not too interested. No matter what it is, I'd think it would be too much of a hassle. A lot of product buyers want simplicity, and having to hear someone telling them what to do won't give that.

Just a consumers opinion.

I can say this....I work for a company that sells an antispyware program. This being said, I can promise you your program would get "caught" and removed from the stuff you mentioned having added in to your program.

Ali1, I think a good idea would be to check the guidelines that Spybot S&D uses to classify adware, spyware etc. Maybe this can give you a good idea on what one of the leading spyware/adware cleaners looks for in a program. While your intentions may be legit, you have to remember that you won't be generating any revenue if you get a bad rep and nobody downloads your free program, let alone invest in a paid version.
Personally, the minute I see anything that says "track" or "monitor" in the EULA, it's an almost instant red flag.

I think that it would be a bad idea to use speech ads. No matter what.
If you must use ads that track you, make sure that no one sees the information, and that it is fully erased when done with. If the information needs to be submitted anywhere, make sure the connection is secure and that it cannot be intercepted at any levels. Any traces of the information should be erased. And seeing as this can be very difficult, I think it would be a better idea if you did not use this method if you do not want your programme to be classified as adware/spyware.
-Julien