AMD making money from ad revenue from installing drivers!?!?

[Lord Nicoll]

Just now, Morgan MLGman said:

btw. I just updated to 17.4.4 from official AMD support website and no shortcut was installed along with the driver.

Yeah, I didn't see it and it wasn't mentioned, maybe you have to have a certain card or live in a certain area, I'm assuming it has some criteria. 

[LAwLz]

1 hour ago, MEC-777 said:

6 pages of discussion about AMD placing an icon on your desktop with the latest drivers, that is not malicious and can be deleted literally in 2 seconds...? 

 

There's no question AMD and Bethesda have a connection, but come on people. Nobody's forcing anyone to do anything. If the effort required to delete one icon is that difficult for you, maybe you should get some help? lol. Nvidia puts a GFE icon on my desktop every time it updates and I just delete it after if I don't want it there. Simple. 

 

Also, AMD has denied making any money off of this. I'm not saying they aren't lying, but there's no proof otherwise, so you can't make the claim that they ARE making money from it. Aside from that, did anyone ever think that maybe someone at AMD thought, "Hey, some gamers like taking part in betas. Maybe we should give them a leg-up on the green team users and give them a shortcut to sign up for this new game that's in the works? Yeah they might like that." Maybe AMD was actually just trying to do something nice. That's the way I see it anyways.

 

And no, I'm not bias towards AMD in the slightest. I use and prefer Nvidia GPUs.   

Yeah, and if Steam started adding links to Nvidia's website where you can buy graphics cards on the desktop then nobody should complain either!

It's just Valve trying to be nice and give users some suggestions on what they can buy. Totally harmless and not annoying in the slightest. Oh, and they will totally track how many people visit the link, but that's totally not for their own benefit.

 

 

(This is sarcasm in case you did not notice)

 

 

Let's be honest here. This does not benefit users at all (it was not even an invite to the beta, it was a page where you could sign up to maybe get a beta key). It only serves to benefit AMD. They don't add trackable links to the user's desktop because they are nice. They are doing it for some other reason.

 

You might say that "it only takes 2 seconds to remove", but the problem is that everyone is so complaisant today that companies gets away with way too many things. You are actually hurting us consumers by being OK with this. The list of "it only takes X seconds to change" things I got is massive. I would honestly not be surprised if it's more than 100 items right now that I need to do every time something updates. Oh, Windows updated? Guess I'll need to change these 30 settings again. If I complain about even a single one then I am met with 10 people screaming "it only takes 10 seconds to change! Stop complaining!" at me.

 

When did consumers go from wanting companies to deliver them the best product and experience they could at a reasonable price, to actually cheering on companies shitting on consumers? I think it has been a serious shift in how consumers treat companies in the last ~10 years, and it is for the worse for us consumers.

 

 

1 minute ago, Morgan MLGman said:

btw. I just updated to 17.4.4 from official AMD support website and no shortcut was installed along with the driver.

1 minute ago, Lord Nicoll said:

Yeah, I didn't see it and it wasn't mentioned, maybe you have to have a certain card or live in a certain area, I'm assuming it has some criteria. 

AMD changed it after the backlash, which should once and for all prove that complaining does work.

If a company treats you poorly, then don't go "well everyone else does it too so I shouldn't complain". That's the mindset of a loser.

[Lord Nicoll]

2 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

AMD changed it after the backlash, which should once and for all prove that complaining does work.

If a company treats you poorly, then don't go "well everyone else does it too so I shouldn't complain". That's the mindset of a loser.

Yeah, I had a long distended argument with two other guys about issues with Windows 10, they said I was complaining and I responded that unless you complain they won't fix it. It was about how obnoxious the updates for Windows 10 are, and how machines will just restart if you don't click not now on the popups, which is an issue for servers and people who don't want to pay over €500 for the server versions. These companies would and do trample all over us if we let them, it's only when a backlash as large as this happens that they get it and understand the boundaries. 

[TOMPPIX]

5 hours ago, LAwLz said:

AMD changed it after the backlash, which should once and for all prove that complaining does work.

If a company treats you poorly, then don't go "well everyone else does it too so I shouldn't complain". That's the mindset of a loser.

Complaining doesn't always work, when the company has monopoly they just don't give a fuck anymore. microsoft and nvidia is still gathering telemetry data.

[MEC-777]

6 minutes ago, Morgan MLGman said:

btw. I just updated to 17.4.4 from official AMD support website and no shortcut was installed along with the driver.

AMD listened to all the complaints and removed it. 

5 minutes ago, Lord Nicoll said:

well too bad it is

Not going to argue. Not worth my time. 

4 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Yeah, and if Steam started adding links to Nvidia's website where you can buy graphics cards on the desktop then nobody should complain either!

It's just Valve trying to be nice and give users some suggestions on what they can buy. Totally harmless and not annoying in the slightest. Oh, and they will totally track how many people visit the link, but that's totally not for their own benefit.

 

 

(This is sarcasm in case you did not notice)

 

 

Let's be honest here. This does not benefit users at all (it was not even an invite to the beta, it was a page where you could sign up to maybe get a beta key). It only serves to benefit AMD. They don't add trackable links to the user's desktop because they are nice. They are doing it for some other reason.

 

You might say that "it only takes 2 seconds to remove", but the problem is that everyone is so complaisant today that companies gets away with way too many things. You are actually hurting us consumers by being OK with this. The list of "it only takes X seconds to change" things I got is massive. I would honestly not be surprised if it's more than 100 items right now that I need to do every time something updates. Oh, Windows updated? Guess I'll need to change these 30 settings again. If I complain about even a single one then I am met with 10 people screaming "it only takes 10 seconds to change! Stop complaining!" at me.

 

When did consumers go from wanting companies to deliver them the best product and experience they could at a reasonable price, to actually cheering on companies shitting on consumers? I think it has been a serious shift in how consumers treat companies in the last ~10 years, and it is for the worse for us consumers.

Companies are always going to do things like this. IMO, this was something very minor. I'm not saying I'm OK with things like this, but rather, if it's so minor, it's not worth my effort to cause an uproar over it. I'll just delete it and move on. Now, if it was an actual program that most people don't want, or a link to something or software that's not even game related, that's something different and more worth complaining about. 

 

In the end, AMD listened and took it out. Some companies don't listen and do what they want anyways - things far worse than adding a link to a game beta sign up. *cough* Microshit *cough*  

[Lord Nicoll]

Just now, MEC-777 said:

Not going to argue. Not worth my time. 

well that's no fun  it's totally worth your time.

[LAwLz]

13 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

Companies are always going to do things like this.

They did not in the past, and you telling others to not complain will certainly not help the situation.

 

13 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

I'm not saying I'm OK with things like this, but rather, if it's so minor, it's not worth my effort to cause an uproar over it. I'll just delete it and move on.

That's not what you did though. You actually put in effort to tell others who thought it was worth their effort to cause an uproar over it to shut up.

 

Going "oh this is bad, but I'll just delete it" for yourself is one thing.

What you did was put in time and effort to insult others (who are fighting for your sake and benefit). You were telling the people who in the end just want to make AMD better that they should seek help, and stop complaining.

 

If you think this is bad practice then you should make your voice heard about it. If you don't care then be silent about it.

What you should not, under and circumstances do is what you did and insult the people who were saying it was a shitty move by AMD.

[79wjd]

5 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

They did not in the past, and you telling others to not complain will certainly not help the situation.

They did other things. Now we're just in the era of data harvesting and ad injection. 

[FratStar]

On 4/27/2017 at 10:17 AM, Natsoup said:

AMD fanboys are so blind, and accuse other companies of everything possible and then when AMD does something wrong, they pull some shit like this. What the fuck?

Whose blind because even /r/Amd was not happy about that. One guy says what's the big deal and now AMD fanboys a blind? C'mon dude the general reaction to this is a negative one.

[WMGroomAK]

10 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

They did other things. Now we're just in the era of data harvesting and ad injection. 

Kind of funny in that all this is over a Driver update creating a shortcut to a website on your desktop...  I think there would have been a more serious issue if the website it directed to was malicious, but it isn't.  Also, I think that companies have been doing quite a bit worse for a while now with installing additional bloatware on your machine and toolbar extensions to your browser.  I think it actually took a lawsuit or three before they began having those opt-out check boxes installed, which you have to keep your eye out for.

[Delicieuxz]

2 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

99% of the members here went butthurt that a driver update installed a beta game shortcut link. Just delete the damn thing and move on.

That complacent attitude is what opens the door to, and props up many other creeping, invasive, and exploitative behaviours by corporations.

 

3 hours ago, djdwosk97 said:

I understand your point here, but the thing is, at least for me, I know that there's nothing that I can personally do about it -- sure, as you said, if everyone banded together it could be prevented, but I don't think most people care enough to bother (hence we have the likes of Windows 10). So while I don't like the idea of data harvesting/ad injection, there doesn't seem to be much that I, as an individual, can personally do and therefore I shrug it off and don't let it affect my decision -- too much. 

But expressing that attitude is giving support to those who say to not care about it to just and let it happen. So, that's not simply not doing anything about it, but is effectively opposing and undermining anti-abusive-practices voices and efforts.

 

22 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

They did other things. Now we're just in the era of data harvesting and ad injection. 

"Other things" didn't typically involve entering and modifying personal and private spaces, and manipulating and taking personal and private property, and unilaterally using it for corporate profit.

[MEC-777]

18 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

They did not in the past, and you telling others to not complain will certainly not help the situation.

 

That's not what you did though. You actually put in effort to tell others who thought it was worth their effort to cause an uproar over it to shut up.

 

Going "oh this is bad, but I'll just delete it" for yourself is one thing.

What you did was put in time and effort to insult others (who are fighting for your sake and benefit). You were telling the people who in the end just want to make AMD better that they should seek help, and stop complaining.

 

If you think this is bad practice then you should make your voice heard about it. If you don't care then be silent about it.

What you should not, under and circumstances do is what you did and insult the people who were saying it was a shitty move by AMD.

Go re-read my earlier post. I never once told anyone not to complain or to "shut up". I was simply stating my opinion that I found it really surprising the level of reaction and up-roar over something that's rather minor. 

 

The reaction vs what triggered the reaction doesn't line up, IMO. I think a lot of people have overreacted to this. That's all. I would consider what they did a slight annoyance at most. 

 

I understand the whole argument of "let them do one minor thing and they will start doing far worse things" but I don't believe that is the case in this situation. Like I mentioned before, other companies like MS have done and are still doing far worse things that should be generating far larger uproar than this petty little gesture that AMD did. It just doesn't make sense for some people to get this upset about such a thing, IMO 

 

Yes, I have put in the effort to respond to this, because the level of response to this has me quite puzzled, to be honest. lol

[NumLock21]

5 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

That complacent attitude is what opens the door to, and props up many other creeping, invasive, and exploitative behaviours by corporations.

 

Maybe those who are paranoid about it, needs to go live in a cave. 

Might want to stop fapping in front of your minitor, cause the monitor is watching. 

[Delicieuxz]

Just now, NumLock21 said:

Maybe those who are paranoid about it, needs to go live in a cave. 

Maybe those who don't care about it shouldn't be so mentally lazy as to not consider the issue, so that they will understand why it's important.

[NumLock21]

20 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

Maybe those who don't care about it shouldn't be so mentally lazy as to not consider the issue, so that they will understand why it's important.

What's the issue? There are many programs that do the same thing. Add 3rd party shortcuts to their programs. Just custom install. 

 

Insects have been genetically engineered where their antenna can receive transmit data. 

You either don't believe the titantic bs i just made up or 

Believe in it and paranoia starts to kick in, then runs to the nearest Costco and buys their entire stock of aluminimum foil. 

[Sakkura]

3 hours ago, Lord Nicoll said:

It's still classified as a PUP, that link could go to any where, it's still as bad as one. 

So it's classified as a program even though it categorically is not a program.

[zMeul]

at least they're "sorry":

 

[LAwLz]

1 hour ago, MEC-777 said:

Go re-read my earlier post. I never once told anyone not to complain or to "shut up". I was simply stating my opinion that I found it really surprising the level of reaction and up-roar over something that's rather minor. 

You did not literally say "shut up", but what you did was:

1) Say that the thread was 6 pages in a manner which implies "wow people should not make this many posts about this".

2) Told people to seek help.

 

I really can't see how anyone can look at your post objectively and not think that you want people to shut up about this. Your entire post was insulting and demeaning to people who are upset about it.

If that's not what you meant, then why did you tell people to seek help? Why did you feel the need to point out the amount of people who has posted about this?

 

1 hour ago, MEC-777 said:

The reaction vs what triggered the reaction doesn't line up, IMO. I think a lot of people have overreacted to this. That's all. I would consider what they did a slight annoyance at most. 

The reason why it has so many posts is because we got people like you who are telling others to not post about it, and other people saying dumb stuff like "Nvidia does it too! Stop hating on AMD!".

If everyone just looked at things objectively and agreed that AMD fucked up then the thread would have been over after page 1.

 

 

1 hour ago, MEC-777 said:

I understand the whole argument of "let them do one minor thing and they will start doing far worse things" but I don't believe that is the case in this situation. Like I mentioned before, other companies like MS have done and are still doing far worse things that should be generating far larger uproar than this petty little gesture that AMD did. It just doesn't make sense for some people to get this upset about such a thing, IMO 

Just because one company is worse than another doesn't mean we should ignore the lesser of two evils.

Just because I think Microsoft is a horrible company that should have been sued several times over the things they have done in the last couple of years doesn't mean I will gladly let other companies fuck me in the ass.

 

I completely agree that the things Microsoft does should generate more of an uproar than they do, but this thread is not about Microsoft. It's about AMD. If you want to know why I think this kind of thinking is stupid then let me direct you to my analogy about the court case:

9 hours ago, LAwLz said:

Judge) You are on trial for armed robbery. What is your defense?

Suspect) Wow speaking of overreaction. There are so many other people committing robbery on the loose and you're just going to ignore them to focus solely on me in this trial?

Judge) You're right... We should let this man go free!

This thread is AMD's "trial". It is about AMD doing something bad and bringing up other companies is just a red herring to distract us. Bringing up Microsoft will only derail the thread, something you should generally try and avoid.

[Jito463]

4 hours ago, Lord Nicoll said:

It's still classified as a PUP, that link could go to any where, it's still as bad as one. 

No, it's not.

4 hours ago, Lord Nicoll said:

It's unwanted and bloatware, you can easily make the argument that it's unwanted. It's doesn't strickly need to be a programme for it to be a nuisance or a PUP, short cuts still count, this is arguing semantics and that's for f***wits, 

Actually, it does.  A PUP is specifically defined as a Potentially Unwanted Program.

 

You say po-tay-to, I say you're wrong.  Feel free to define it as you see fit, you're still wrong.

[WkdPaul]

Thread cleaned.

 

Please keep it on-topic.

[themctipers]

11 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

I mean don't get me wrong, Nvidia certainly aren't whiter than white, they do artificially inflate prices and charge a premium compared to AMD that's for sure.

 

Also in recent months AMD have made huge improvements, Omega is a 100% improvement over CCC and their hardware from the RX400 line has been the best bang for buck cards on the market. Plus no one can deny the whole Nvidia Async Compute debacle and AMD vs Nvidia DX12 argument doesn't hold at least some merit.

 

I don't understand the need for fanboyism, I prefer Nvidia and I will defend them when it comes to misleading and false claims but if they fuck up I'm the first to call them out and if I'm making a recommendation then I always tell people to go with what best suits their budget, the RX 400s and 500s are fine cards, they do a great job for not very much budget and if your budget can't stretch to the Nvidia premium then get an AMD card and you'll still be impressed.

 

That said AMDs other OS is nothing short of ridiculous, if your not running Windows you really have no other choice, buy Nvidia or you'll regret it.

I'm probably still salty over having to RMA my card, then getting a replacement that power and voltage throttles. It won't go over 1950mhz with GPU boost or overclock.. It's a GTX 1070.

 

i would've gone for a RX 480, but it was a whopping $480 (8gb) when I bought my 1070 for $510.. (Canada, WAS. dont tell me oh it's now ~$300)

[NumLock21]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

Snip

Your court case analogy is flawed. Companies who are caught will be dealt with accordingly. They are just not caught yet. As for the 2 groups in this thread.

 

Those who don't see what the fuss is all about. And...

Hypocrites.

 

 

In other news...

 

Leaked rx vega packaging.

[mr moose]

1 hour ago, NumLock21 said:

 

Those who don't see what the fuss is all about. And...

Hypocrites.

 

 

We call that one eyed reasoning.  Just becasue you don't agree doesn't make the opposing opinion hypocritical.  The fact people are using the same examples to defend what has happened as to decry it should show you that it's a personal perception based issue, one that cannot be dismissed simply because you don't agree.  Given there are more people saying it shouldn't have happened than are saying they don't care if it happens again,  can only mean that how benign the shortcut is is irrelevant, there is more to it for them than that. Therefore fuss is justified whether you agree with their reasoning or not.

[LAwLz]

2 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

Your court case analogy is flawed. Companies who are caught will be dealt with accordingly. They are just not caught yet. As for the 2 groups in this thread.

But AMD has been caught... What do you think this thread is about? This thread is AMD getting caught and they were dealt with accordingly. After the backlash they realized people were not pleased with getting ads in their drivers, so they removed it. In this case the "court" system worked thanks to threads like this one.

 

2 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

As for the 2 groups in this thread.

Those who don't see what the fuss is all about. And...

Hypocrites.

Your words are meaningless if you don't justify your reasoning. I might as well be saying "there are 2 groups in this thread. Those who are mad at AMD, and AMD fanboys who would defend AMD even if Raja himself ran over their dog".

 

 

 

By the way, I found it hard to believe that even /r/amd was mad about this so I went to the subreddit and found a pretty good comment. A comment from nestersan:

Quote

Hey apologist, stop trying to excuse bad behavior by comparing it to worse behavior.

It's pretty amazing that such a thing even has to be said, but it seems to be the standard response these days (looking at you, Microsoft defense force).

[mr moose]

19 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

 

 

Your words are meaningless if you don't justify your reasoning. I might as well be saying "there are 2 groups in this thread. Those who are mad at AMD, and AMD fanboys who would defend AMD even if Raja himself ran over their dog".

 

Exactly, It is o.k to say "I don't care" and it's o.k to say "I do care".  But if you want to tell someone else why they should or should not care, you have to provide a reasoned argument*.  This is by its very nature the opposite of hypocrisy.  And I personally believe "becasue it sets a standard or precedence" is a reasoned argument while "but others do it" is not. 

 

*calling someone a fanboy or accusing them of one eyed hatred is not a reasoned argument.