Too Good For Words

I had to laugh when I saw this article about Microsoft's talks to buy Claria. I mean, wow. I'm flabbergasted. Perhaps the two most despised companies in the tech world could be merging. Microsoft, with its horrendous security mechanisms. And Claria (formerly Gator), one of the most notorious spyware companies to have existed. I guess this way Microsoft can profit off of their shoddy security.

Seriously, though, the article gives a hint where some of the motivation could be coming from: Claria's BehaviorLink software. Claria pays programmers to bundle their software in with programs (e.g., Kazaa). Then marketers pay Claria to have ads pop up on your computer. BehaviorLink tracks your Web surfing habits to Claria can help the marketers customize the ads for your particular habits. The current solution is to avoid installing any software that has Claria bundled. Now imagine Microsoft bundling this software in with Windows. Egads. What's that I hear? Could that be the sound of Apple execs offering prayers that this deal goes through?

Addendum: I was just reading the comments on Slashdot about this. There's a comment that's just too good not to pass along. Here's the exchange:

Original post: "What are they thinking, don't they realize what this is going to do to their image? Microsoft, the company cherished for it's warm human point of view and high quality software, associating itself with such a low-life company."

Response: "'...the company cherished for it's warm human point of view and high quality software...' I think you misspelled 'crap.' It's a common typo, they [sic] keys are like, right next to each other."

That just made my day...