The Flash / Yahoo Toolbar Debate

By now you've likely heard that Macromedia recently launched a deal with Yahoo! whereby Internet Explorer users on Windows can download the latest Flash player bundled with the Yahoo! toolbar. Lots of people are annoyed, most notably Flash developers and those concerned about sneaky software bundling in the age of spyware and malicious browser hijacking. My feelings on the matter? Macromedia's Flash Player download should never be open to anyone but Macromedia. Period.

I'm sure Yahoo! tossed a bunch of money at Macromedia to do this, for as long as I've been a Flash developer there has been an ongoing concern within Macromedia's Flash Player team over the byte size of the player. They keep a very sharp eye on every byte, for part of the player's ubiquitous footprint is thanks to its small file size. Why Macromedia would change tune and allow a third-party group to hijack the rampant popularity of the player just to make a little extra money is beyond me.

If anything, it proves yet another reason why Windows users should dump Internet Explorer for what it is -- 5 year old abandonware with an application gateway (ActiveX) that serves little use to consumers and everything to companies like Yahoo looking to force their useless toolbar into your browser, not to mention all the malicious spyware enterprises out there. I'm not accusing Yahoo's toolbar of being spyware, but the sneaky bundling of their product into what has become a trusted, stable, essential plug-in smells just as bad.

Update (3/11/05): Mike Chambers has written an extensive retort on this topic. The Flash player installation page has been thoroughly redesigned, and is much clearer than before.

That said, the one thing that bothers me most about this deal -- beyond allowing a third-party company to push their product alongside the player -- is the assertion that all of this benefits Flash development going forward. That money from Yahoo is a 'good thing' because it will enable Macromedia to offer bigger, better features in future versions of Flash. Sounds good, until you consider the inverse -- without Yahoo (or anyone else), is the assertion that Macromedia won't have the resources to fully develop their product?

I could be reading too much into this, but I'm not at all comfortable with the assertion that third-party money is a necessary evil in order for Flash development to expand and strengthen.