User revolt over Java bloatware - Stop filling our machines with rubbish, Larry | TechEye

Oracle is facing a user revolt of its peddling of bloatware while it is trying to fix important security errors on its software.

For a while now Oracle has tried to make a bob or two out of its security updates by asking users to install either a McAfee virus scanner or an Ask.com toolbar.

Users have to be watching their machines carefully when Java updates or they will end up having to spend ten minutes removing the software from their machines.

It is the sort of antics you expect from a poor software company and not a big name like Oracle and is made worse by the fact that lately Ellison's outfit has been putting out a lot of updates because of huge security flaws in the product.

Now there is a petition, organised by Dr Saeid Nourian, calling for Oracle to stop the practice. He said that Oracle decided to sacrifice the integrity of Java by bundling Ask toolbar with Java in order to make few pennies per download in profit.

"It is demeaning for a respected corporation such as Oracle to resort to such techniques only to make a small profit. Ask Toolbar hijacks user's default search engine and forwards them to Ask search engine which resorts to various misleading advertisement techniques in order to confuse the unsuspecting users into clicking on their paid ads," Nourian wrote.

He added that it was unfair that you had to specifically opt out of downloading the bloatware. He wants users and Java programmers to demand that Oracle removes Ask from the Java installer and not bundle any other third party software with Java in the future.

You can sign the petition here. So far, 6,000 people have done so, but Nourian wants 250,000.