whats with the new (relatively) download dot com website?
it used to be such a useful place,product reviews and reliable downloads; now its just the reviews,and who knows,maybe those will change as well 
.
Read this old topic:
Question About Cnet.net?
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=85647.0
sorry,hadnt seen it.
but i do think the subject merits more than 1 thread ;D
personally i mostly use filehippo,otherwise softpedia.
They are bowing down to the desires of their parent company, CBS, a large TV network corporation (didn’t know if you knew that, since they might not broadcast in Antarctica ;D). Broadcast TV has no love of the Internet, nor any understanding of it. To them, it is an expense, a parasite that sucks at their profits. So now they try to suck some back via toolbar installers.
There are people who work for Cnet that have stated this was a bad move, both before it happened and after. But this decision came from high-up the chain, actions clearly stating, “We want more money from this site, and if we cant get it, then its not worth running”. Best part is, the are audacious enough to call the toolbar wrapper a “secure downloader”, claim its to protect the DL.com users from infections and unwanted installs. :
I have left this site behind. And I cant say I miss it. Less mindless Apple/Android fans to give me a headache.
but do you really think they’ll actually make more profit?
i mean,losing their customer base plus possible future customers might not be so profitable.
btw,we do get cbs in antarctica ;D 
8)
Hard to say. I would like to say no, but dumber business moves have been turned to profit before.
This will undoubtedly offend the oldest and most tech-savvy of their users. And it also has the potential to hurt the reputations of any software vendors hosted there, provided they get stuck with the toolbar installer(not all cnet downloads come with it). But they are really leaning toward cultivating their mobile user base, and with how fast and big mobile is getting, it could offset their financial losses combined with the revenue from toolbars.
doesnt revenue from toolbars mean that downloaders actually download,install toolbars and keep them?
do you think people will actually keep those toolbars?
also,i’ve also noticed them using their “installer” for tiny applications/downloads (hundreds of kilobytes),which causes a download -that usually takes seconds (using idm etc)- to take minutes,increasing download size and additional steps i.e opting out of toolbars etc. .
The specifics of agreements like this would greatly vary, thats really hard to say with any certainty.
Sure, some people will. Voluntarily, and happily. From what I’ve read of Babylon toolbar, some people will also keep it involuntarily, simply because they cant figure out how to be rid of it, and just give up. There is also a group of people that wont even notice it got installed. ;D
You got the installer to work? I tried it, and it just kept crashing, wouldn’t work, quite the laughable fail that was, when you try to install a nosy toolbar and it cant even manage to get installed. ;D
yes it works,but very slow and annoying.
i generally greatly despise downloading without a download manager.
does anyone think there’s a chance it’ll go back to the way it was in the future?
I think at the rate there loosing face and it being so easy to change to a new and better download site they’ll probably fade away.
the problem with other sites is,filehippo for instance,doesnt have a big enough collection of programs or any reviews.softpedia doesnt have that modern look,and probably not as large a collection of software as cnet either;and of course their reviews seem to be alot less too.
CNET became an ad sharing place… Do you want ads?, go for CNET…
Softpedia, at least, is more about downloading that watching ads…
I have never needed a download manger as I have a high speed Internet connection. ;D
well your lucky you live in north pole,you get better speeds than us here at south pole ;D
but the issue isnt speed;its having total control of what you download,how you download it,being able to view related info,i.e download speed,percentage,referer,etc.
not to mention stopping and resuming downloads.
another annoying thing about those “installers” like the ones cnet or brothersoft use,is that there’s a seperate installer for every program; now thats annoying.
This thread and the actions of sites like those mentioned are the reason that I will only use the original vendor’s website to download software.
If I can’t I will be looking for alternatives before going somewhere like these sites.
i’m going to have to disagree scott,a well designed reliable download site is generally preferred to vendors’ own sites;also,some vendors actually refer you to a dedicated download website.
as i mentioned,i dont download from cnet anymore,but i still visit it for reviews etc.
as for ads on the the site itself,they’re no problem for me as i use abp in firefox.
And I disagree with you. :
asyn,where’s/what’s your argument?