Month: May 2012

Cult of Mac Doubles Down on MacKeeper Craziness

My once favorite blog, Cult of Mac, has responded to the predictable outcry over its hawking of the extremely controversial MacKeeper software.  Did they respond by actually installing, using and (this is important) trying to uninstall the program?  Nope.  They just did some Google searches and concluded, mostly, that it’s all good.

Except it ain’t.

As I noted before, I’ve never used MacKeeper and I never will.  I don’t need to test my suspicions about it, because the marketing strategy alone (pop-unders, ripe for abuse affiliate program, etc.) tells me all I need to know.

Here’s MacKeeper’s PR manager’s explanation for that strategy:

We believe that we have a great product and we want people to know about it and the only way to do this is to explore every medium of advertisement.

What they want is to make money.  Cash.  Bucks.  A desire they seem to share with Cult of Mac.  If the program is so awesome and this is all about informing the unsuspecting masses that their Macs are in great danger, there would be no need for sketchy marketing and ineffective uninstallers.  It’s not even about whether MacKeeper is good or bad; it’s the way they go about it.

But I don’t really care about MacKeeper.

What I care about is the fact that I can no longer trust Cult of Mac.  If I have to wonder whether every app or service I read about on Cult of Mac is a great benefit or disguised malware, Cult of Mac is useless to me.  If Cult of Mac’s response to that question is a Google search and some second hand anecdotal gibberish, in lieu of first hand analysis, then it’s not just useless- it’s dangerous.

I hope Cult of Mac made a butt load of money selling MacKeeper to its readers.  Because they paid a big price in the process.

 

Risky Business: The Windows 8 Story

I’ve been reading a lot about the forthcoming Windows 8. I’ve used the Developer’s Preview a little. There’s a lot to like about it. And there are some problems. I haven’t written much about it, simply because I can’t decide if Microsoft’s Windows 8 plan is brilliant or idiotic. It’s clearly one or the other.

There’s no middle ground. That’s for sure.

Here’s what I think I think. So far.

One, Michael Mace has a fantastic write-up on the state and prospects of Windows 8. Literally one of the best articles I’ve read in a long time. In any medium.

Two, I’m just about certain the bolted together combination of the new Metro interface and the more traditional Windows interface is not going to make anyone happy.  Will people suffer through it as an interim step into Microsoft’s mandated future desktop?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  If I were a Windows user, I would.  Because I’m a computer nerd.  Those who don’t care about anything other than finding, starting and using the programs they need to do their work?  That’s a tougher call.

Three, I think it is very risky for Microsoft to bet the farm on a mobile-first computing experience.  I’ve thought about it a lot, and I simply don’t think anyone is going to use a Windows tablet, when the iPad is so clearly the established, preferred and beloved brand.  Even dedicated Windows computer users have embraced the iPhone and iPad.  I don’t see that changing.  At all.  Even if somehow Windows tablets turn out to be significantly cheaper (and I doubt this will be the case, especially when you add next to latest generation iPads into the mix), then there’s Android to deal with.  It seems like Microsoft is aiming for the lower end of the market.  Or at least drifting that way.

Fourth, pigs will fly before corporate America makes its change-resistant and outspoken workforce retrain under Windows 8, and Metro.  My company is moving from Windows XP to Windows 7 (a tiny step at most), and you’d think they were moving from an Abacus to a Cray.  The IT folks are, rightly so, very worried about the potential hue and cry from the people who create content.  The jump from Windows 7 to Windows 8 would be seen (rightly or wrongly) as an invitation for mutiny.  I think Paul Thurrott may be onto something, when he wonders if Microsoft has already given up on business adoption for this release.

If so, that is straight up crazy.

Fifth, while not specifically Windows 8 related, if I were running Microsoft, I would absolutely, without a doubt, nurture my last remaining monopoly by releasing Office apps for iOS.  As fast as I could.  The iPad experience has conclusively demonstrated that users will not forego a better tablet simply because Microsoft Office isn’t natively on it.  There are multitudes of third party developers standing by to implement work-arounds.

Sixth, Microsoft’s inability to deliver a clear and concise marketing message is catching up with it.  Need some examples?  Well, there’s this.  And the never-ending branding/naming changes.  It seems very haphazard.  Maybe it’s not, but nothing coming from Microsoft proves it.  As much as anything, Microsoft needs someone to step up and become the spokesperson for- and face of- its strategic plan.

In sum, I want Windows 8 to be a roaring success.  For a lot of reasons.  I’m by no means certain it won’t be.  But I am by no means certain it will be either.

Scary times for Microsoft.

How Cult of Mac Went From the Top of My Reading List to the Bottom in a Single Post

It would be hard to overstate how much I have historically liked the website/blog Cult of Mac.  Simply stated, I have long felt it was the single best source for Apple-related news, reviews and videos.  I usually read it first when I open up Google Reader to consume my news of the day.

Until this week, when I saw a post entitled MacKeeper is 911 for Your Mac.

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Until that moment, I assumed Cult of Mac was a clearinghouse of sorts with respect to all of the things (apps, websites, etc.) that apear in its stories.  The inescapable problem with the above post is that a lot of people- and I mean a whole lot of people- not only disagree that MacKeeper is a good app, they think it is somewhere between unnecessary and nefarious.  Need some examples?  Here’s a thread from today on the Apple Support Community message boards (the first stop for Apple-related questions and troubleshooting).  This is not an isolated response, and it’s not limited to the Apple Support Community.  Here’s a page that goes to great lengths to warn users away.

The comments to the post as well as on Cult of Mac’s Facebook page evidence the controversy.

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A couple of important things, in the interest of fairness.  One, Cult of Mac is not alone in recommending MacKeeper.  Two, I have never tried MacKeeper, and have no first hand knowledge of whether it is the greatest thing ever, the worst thing ever, or somewhere in between.  My problem with Cult of Mac is simply this: if you are the premier source for Mac news, you simply cannot toss up a post recommending MacKeeper (or any other controversial app) without addressing the significant anti-MacKeeper sentiment that pervades the internets.  Especially when readers might think (rightly or wrongly- I have no idea) that you are getting a cut of sales driven by said post.

If MacKeeper is wrongly maligned by these other websites, then gut it up and tell the readers why.  Debunk the criticisms, but don’t just willy nilly recommend the app, without comment.  Users at least need to know there is a vigorous opposing view.  I would like to be able to trust any app I see recommended on Cult of Mac, but if they don’t want to do the work to give us the full story, I can’t and won’t do that.