Digsby IM Turns Bad with Malware

Oh, how quickly public perception can shift. Digsby, who won 4 out of 5 nominations (out of 6 total categories) in About.com’s 2008 user-voted IM client awards including Developers of the Year, has been one of the much-loved IM clients. Their community has to be very supportive and vocal in order for them to win awards like that. However, they’ve recently made a huge snafu in the PR department by bundling excessive advertising and malware in the installer. After this, I think they won’t be winning the developers of the year award again anytime soon.

Lifehacker’s post sums up everything you need to know about the situation, but reading the comments really gives insight into the people’s thoughts. It’s amazing how hard it is to earn people’s trust, both in business and personal relationships. Yet, that trust can disappear quicker than you can blink. I don’t know if this is the end for Digsby or if they will be able to repair the damage to their brand. However it unfolds, it’s a valuable lesson for all to learn.

2 Comments

  1. digsby inflicts adware on users now. yay! their official position is “stop whining b1tches, you can disable the two flavors of adware”

    yeah.. not cool

    either provide

    link_1: clean digsby
    link_2: support our development with this adware infested build

    otherwise they’re returning to their (LONG) trend of intellectual dishonesty

    they’re almost as shameful as those who use opencandy or similar ilk in installaiton wrappers [which necessarily run with admin rights]

    showing ads is NOT a business model

    ads rape user privacy

  2. digsby could raise money using the link_1 / link_2 model to provide users informed CONSENT

    but instead of adware users could pay for the software with the OPTIONAL CPU chewing module

    how much room heat, increased Air conditioning, and electricity are you willing to donate to digsby?

    … and how much do they need

    a cpu-odometer next to a “your monthly target” for premium features would avoid irritating the kind of people unwise to irritate

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