April 24, 2012
Who to trust in the world of giveaways (+inforgraphics)
It is a well-known fact that there are a lot of free software offers all over the Internet. Most of those sites do it their own way, trying hard to gain popularity and credibility among the audience. Still there are people wise enough to leave the challenge out. They find a well-established initiative and copy someone’s ready-made business model for their shadowy aims. While we admit that competition is essential for any company development, there are certain catches for everyone involved.
As a developer you will support the idea that people who rip off others’ ideas without adding any original traits are those who destabilize market (well, in a way) with their “projects”. They bring duplication and no innovation at all, thus their product is usually depreciated in the bud. Most often the aim is to get fast revenue, so do you think it’s worth to make partnership with them in spite of obvious risks for your reputation?
At the same time, users are always in search of free deals. People love ’em and we are always glad to see a lot of happy faces here, there and everywhere. Still when guided with “the more free offers – the better” motto only, you tend to pay less attention to the credibility of projects you download files from. Meanwhile reliability is the key here. Trustworthy sources protect you from illegally distributed versions, because their campaigns are authorized by the Developer. Besides your PC is likely to stay clean from malware/viruses and other computer killers, which we believe is also of great importance.
We’d like to share with you (and we mean both users and developers) our thoughts about the main Copycats’ drawbacks. Click “your” button for colorful learning experience:
Have fun. Comment on the post. Download safely. :)
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Regards,
GOTD team
Ah, I see you’re facing some competition, no? May I make a guess who you’re referring to? I would guess ******, AlgoLogic’s poorly executed version of GOTD. But still, is it really necessary to make a blog post and infographics if there’s no major competition?
Never thought things through like this with other giveaways… Glad to have read it!
GOTD , I could not agree with you more. I’ve told my readers of my blog that GOTD has always been trustworthy when it comes to downloads, There have been many issues with the competitors site that makes it a red flag. I’ll be sure to pass on your article to my readers. I whole heartedly agree with what you have to say.
Competition is healthy, I see no real reason for the blog post.
If the software giveaways from other sites are as you say everyone will come to that conclusion on their own.
I personally found this rather amusing. The ‘infographics’ look like little more than an attempt at scare tactics. “Do you really trust company X? Are you sure you trust them? Maybe you shouldn’t be so sure.” A simple blog post on the topic describing why you feel Giveaway of the Day is better than any competitors would probably have sufficed. Actually, bringing up the topic at all might get more people to look into what other giveaway sites are out there.
It’s a fact of life that if you offer some kind of relatively popular web service, others are bound to copy the idea. I see game distribution services who try to make their homepage look like Steam, and local deal sites that look almost exactly like Groupon. If you want to stay ahead of the others, your best bet is to keep improving your services to stay on top. Maybe further improve your feedback options to provide better communication between end-users and developers. A more descriptive multi-point review system in place of the simple thumbs up/thumbs down system might be a good place to start, since it’s often pretty vague why something gets rated low. People are more likely to stick with a site if it offers features that the others don’t, and developers are bound to go with a site that looks professional, has a good user base, and provides service that is useful to them.
Sigh… Peace?
devnullius ; )
I really don’t know why people don’t dare to face healthy competition.
If you consider ***** to be copycats, then you may consider bing.com duckduckgo, etc also copy cats of google?
today what matters is the service you provide to your customers. You cannot stop an idea from being used. This kind of idea do not have any patents.
:)
first cnet also known as download.com has tested al ltheir free software out and ran virus checks so never have issues to begin with with them and also that site if legit can sue you for defamation as you are making asssumptions with no concrete proof to back it up and lawyers look for stuff like this
do not respond to comment as i won’t ever see it as i couldcare less what you think and i never check back at section i post a comment in and this will be psoted about you on my site that posted something with no concrete proof looks like in my opinion they are the untrustworthy site and my site has no name and is my right to post my reviews of companies per judges order nothing ca nbe done
@7: Note at the bottom of the site it says “patent pending” lol
#8: What are you talking about? How could anyone sue for “Defamation” of anything when no one and no website was mentioned by name? Since you won’t see this it’s just being posted for the benefit of others. You might want to learn the proper usage of the English language while you’re out there, if for no other reason than to try to sound reasonably intelligent.
Response that won’t get read to business and website critic – I’ve used CNET as a resource for free software. The biggest problem I see with them is than 90% of what is listed as “free” are actually trial versions with very limited usage which should be categorized as “free to try”. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve downloaded a program only to find it wouldn’t do what I needed to get done. There’s also the issue of the developer posting anonymously how wonderful their program is when it’s actually a piece of crap.
At GOTD, I’ve not encountered either of those issues. The users would catch it within the first hour of it being posted. I’ve gotten some good software here and I’ve purchased software from vendors who’ve allowed us to taste their wares. I may have to wait to find a program to do whatever I want to get done but when I find one here, at least I know it won’t limit my usage to getting something half done or only 3 uses. Never had any issues with malware here either – I have with programs from C-Net.
Thank you to GOTD, the developers who put their software up for consideration at GOTD and those GOTD users who try programs out and post meaningful reviews.
@11: CNET as of late has been wrapping the downloads with their wrapper.
Thanks for the info, GMMan. I’ll give this ***** site a sticky-beak.
Don’t try to scare your customers away with these “infographs”
Funny thing is, in those infographs you posted a the reason why you would not have had to post this blog at all
over 100k users (50.000+ users can’t be wrong)ad with that the reputation, returning developers, returning visitors, some of the best software etc
The only way you could lose many visitors is when you have a long streak of less interesting programs (we really don’t need another “agenda” or ‘ launcher”)So keeping the quality of the programs high is about the only thing you can do to counter those “copy cats”
While I do go to other free software purveyors , this is the only site I trust/go to for software that I haven’t tried yet. Both in the sense of “new” software and “new” developers. Cnet has lost me as a customer due to the garbage they try to wrap in their offerings anymore. This is my main place to go when looking for new things. And I cannot sing your praises high enough! Thank you
You gotta love your readers! They are smart, not afraid to say what’s on their minds, and will always keep you honest. All you could ask for!
where are the infographics?
Well, you know this is one way healthy competitors compete. They point out the problems with the competing product while praising their own product’s strong points. This is healthy competition at work :) Hurray for competition!
At some point competitors have to be addressed. This is a very succinct, albeit exaggerated, way of doing that. I also look at other sites but, for the reasons listed above, GAOTD is the only site I’ll recommend to others. I know I won’t have to apologize later.
I appreciate and remain loyal to GAOTD because I know I can download without worry but also for the great feedback. I have learned so much just reading the feedback. GAOTD has that edge hands down. So I would also like to thank those who take the time to generate such interesting commentary.
I have always thought of GOTD as a reliable, established and trustworthy site. Until now.
A reliable, established and trustworthy site has no need to get jittery at the presence of a little competition.
If the site is as you say, then you have nothing to fear.
Sadly, your response says more about GOTD than it does about *****.
You run a website.
Your visitors sample that site, its service and the software it offers.
Who do you think is most qualified to compare the two sites?
I feel GOTD’s ‘customers’ are well able to evaluate the alternatives and come to their own conclusions, no assistance required.
Actually, giving a warning to the naive is a good thing. There are some people out there who will download and install anything that says it’s *free*. That’s what unscrupulous people count on to gain control of people’s computers, install virus’s and Trojan’s. And, let’s not discount the bootleggers out there who crack hard-working developers games, then offer them for free and those who badly code games, which can really screw up your computer. A word to the *un-wise* never goes amiss.
I’d take this all more seriously if GOTD prevented the oh-so-obvious vote pumping for special software vendors who then post the deceptive vote counts on their websites as proof of quality. Lies are lies, and if a vendor demands that you participate in their deceit or not offer their software, you KNOW which is the right decision. And yet you go along with it, and comb the comments out of the feedback that draw attention to your complicity. This dishonesty is the ONLY flaw I’ve seen from GOTD, your operations and offerings seem otherwise outstanding, and this ongoing offense thus stands out all the more. Please stop showing the vote when it becomes obvious that tampering is going on. It’s not hard to recognize that you are getting 80% positive (unheard of for most offerings) but the total votes are 5 times the normal, and the majority of comments are either negative or obvious shills. Permitting this undermines all that you are.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However when a company begins slagging off the opposition like this it is a sign that the imitators are doing it better, and they are getting scared.
I like GOTD, however it is a sad fact that once you have to start posting things like this you are on the way out and won’t still be around in a year or so. So let me get in early and thank you for the years of great downloads, and say that you will be sorely missed my me and many many other people.
Who to trust? Those who earn it by being honest.
There’s no patent protection on ideas. Only their implementation. GAOTD’s model of the 24-hour free download was unique but was always bound to be emulated. Arguably the most influential to do so was Brothersoft, which teamed with several high calibre developers to offer giveaways of the day. But the Brothersoft service is no more, not because it failed to deliver to users, but because it failed to deliver users to its developer partners: you only had to look at the Brothersoft user feedback to say how dismal an audience it had harvested, with user comments that were generally either incoherent or unintelligible.
GAOTD’s success, therefore, derives from the originality of the idea and its subsequent implementation, i.e.: GAOTD’s proposition to a developer is immeasurably enhanced by the facility GAOTD provides for user feedback for it is that facility, and that alone, which demonstrates to a developer partner the calilbre of the audience which GAOTD attracts.
On which basis, GAOTD currently has little to fear from any me-too giveaway sites: if Brothersoft couldn’t make it work, no-one else is likely to, either. So GAOTD really need not show the kind of anxiety which this somewhat ill-advised blog post reveals.
That said, cause for anxiety does exist: implementation of the original idea has effectively stalled when it should have evolved. It’s stalled because the qality of user feedback — the accuracy, the relevance, the dependability and the trustworthiness — is not being safeguarded as it should be.
The result is an increasing disenchantment amongst the very users on whose presence GAOTD depends for its partnership deals: users who are (a) genuine and (b) quite likely to be convertible from trial customers to paying customers.
Worrying about what some other website may or may not be doing is, frankly, not seeing the wood for the trees.
What GAOTD should instead be doing is beefing up the moderation of the comment / feedback thread and doing more — far more — to ensure that thumbs up / thumbs down voting and comment manipulation and abuse is brought to an end.
To sum up: the GAOTD business model was and remains valid. Implementation of the core idea was also excellent *at the time of launch.* Nowadays though, lack of moderation is leaving the ‘community’ feedback so open to all-too-obvious abuse that the biggest threat to GAOTD is, ironically, coming from GAOTD itself.
I never expected to see this posting from you. Still, you have some really good comments already and some pretty silly ones – Stand up anyone who says they will not be coming back! Do we believe them though, or will they try posting under another name?
My thoughts for what they are worth, is that competition stops you from resting on your laurels. If you want to succeed, you will need to work harder to get better software for GAOTD. Unfortunate for you, but great for us – Or is it?
I’ve seen this sort of thing before (but not with software) so I am sure hoping I am wrong – But while there is a massive market for downloading software for free, where does it come from? THAT market is very limited indeed. There are only so many software companies willing to let their software go on a site like this. So when another company steps in it can fracture the supply to where neither can obtain suffient supplies and then you both go under.
The fight for survival can be very dirty – One side will spend a great deal of time and money finding something special, then the other site knows that software company is ameanable to releasing their software in thhis way and so they too do a deal with them. Eventually both companies become reluctant to put much effort in, as the other company will only copy them. The responses to that are marketing – Point out you get the best software FIRST and also try lock-in deals, where you get the exclusive right to offer their software. This will probably cut heavily in to your profits, but hopefully not to the level where you can no longer go on.
A competitor is not always good news for customers, but it does not have to mean the end of your business either. You just have to work harder (often for less profit though sadly), but THINK – Try to innovate, do not stand still, offer deals for a normal product key – But you get paid a percentage of every licence/key they sell via you.
Offer the previous days’ GAOTD software for a nominal fee to anyone who missed it, or special GAOTD versions of software that you have already offered anyway, for a nominal fee to download anytime – Some software offered here is really just a “teaser” to try to get us to buy the full, registed product after all.
Try making another site with software for children perhaps? You need to innovate to survive with competition. Good luck!
#23: “…it is a sign that the imitators are doing it better, and they are getting scared.”
I hardly think that a website where the hourglass spins more than my washing machine that GAOTD is not really in any danger from them. Clearly a knock-off, and inferior, but people may just need to find that out for themselves.
As for those touting CNET, they are primarily a download source for trial software (shareware) not fully-functional software. I know the developers like to call that ‘free,’ but it’s not. There’s no comparison there.
GAOTD has a pretty solid model; if it has any undoing it is the users, who vote products down 90% of the time, as though they are expecting Office 2010 for free. Ironic that there are websites exactly for that, and they are exactly the type GAOTD is warning about…
With several exceptions, I am seeing rants from those who have some sort of misguided sense of entitlement. That sense is prevalent in just about every aspect of life these days, so its presence here is not an anomaly.
Every twenty-four hours this site offers up software that costs nothing, along with free games as they become available. They don’t ask you to fill out a survey or three to have access. They don’t ask you to look through a bunch of advertisements before you may download the program.
The saying “you can’t please all the people all of the time” is one to keep in mind while on this site. The software offerings run the gamut from fantastic to poor – depending on whom you ask at what hour of the day. Some software may be of no use to you, but exactly what someone else is looking for.
Here is an example of something odd I see a lot in the comments. Someone will write something like, “I had no problem downloading and activating this. I love the features available….(three or four more positive sentences)… Thank you!” – and this person will have a score of -135. I guess because the “more informed, correct” majority deems the software to be anything but lovable. My question is, why does this person’s comment deserve to be pummeled with negative votes? Because his or hers opinion is different from yours? It’s truly mob-like behavior. So why comment at all?
However, I have seen comments that are clearly from someone on the developer’s team. These *should* be voted into the ground as they undermine what this site is about. Obviously, this scenario is completely different than the one I described in the previous paragraph.
For those of you who have made complaining an art form, ask yourself how much money you have spent on this site. Be thankful for what you have instead of whining about what you don’t. Not just here – but in general. I guarantee you will be much happier.
Sigh… Peace… I mean, you all know that GOTD is absolutely an amazing site – no crap, no surveys, no trials…
I think we should all give the GOTD-team a big hug! What an amazing site!
Keep up the good work!
Just my thoughts on the subject: There´s an old saying that goes (something like)”you can´t complain on something you got for free”, to me it still stands rather well. So, now and then the giveaways show some bugs when installing, but the team and the respective developers most oftenly comes back fast to fix the problems, seems people for the most part do what they can to please us free customers. I´d say that´s a rather good way trying to keep up with more or less serious competition. I can understand if the GAOTD team feels the need to blow off some steam over conceptual ripoffs whatever they may be, and as long as critisism is due that ought to be okay.
All in all, i think you GAOTD guys were right in posting this notice for starters – there are all kinds of shady crap being handed out as freeware with hidden intents. So, never assume anything.
I don’t see why anyone should have any problem with what you have done to compare GOTD to competitors. You are giving us an excellent, free service. I trust this site so much that I have never wondered if I should be super-careful of the software I get here. I just follow my normal procedures of checking for virus and so forth. I cannot say that about any other site that offers what you offer.
It is common practice in advertising to compare your “product” to competitors and share the results with your markets; of course, it is only effective if you are confident that you have a better product, which includes better service to customers. There are many opinions about how to do that, what effect it has, what its drawbacks are, etc. Those here who are fundamentally negative in their outlook seem to see this as an admission on your part that you are worried about competitors. Those who are fundamentally positive see it as an attempt to inform them of things they should watch out for, which you have written of in the past as well as here.
Thank you for this information and for urging us to be cautious of other sites. What some don’t understand is that “competitors” not only take away your business, but, inferiors can damage the entire field such that some people will cease trying giveaways entirely. Your efforts have helped ensure the giveaway field remains high quality. Keep up the good work; you have done an excellent job here.
To #28: excellent comments. I agree with you; I could not add materially to what you have already said, so I won’t use up any more space here than to agree with you. Others have made good points also, but it isn’t necessary for me to list them all here.
There are a number of negatives here, some of which are worth considering, but most are quite far-fetched in what they assume. This is a widespread problem on the entire internet: some people read the internet with very subjective filters. Most of the negatives here seem to come from people who believe they can know perfectly what your motive is for posting the comments and the infographics; they come up with one possibility and stop there. So, they assume your motives are identical to what their own would be, or perhaps, they think they can know your thoughts and intentions so well that they can post a lengthy criticism of them with the assumption that they are 100% correct. I have always found these to be very annoying and I usually just ignore them entirely. WHen I find a criticism which is well thought out, objective, and which shows the author is open to being corrected if he guesses wrong, I pay attention to those. Most of the negatives here are of the annoying type; even if their assumptions are correct, their logic in reaching their conclusions is defective. I’ve never left two comments here; I hope that is not a no-no, but if it is, I will humbly accept the correction and refrain from doing it again. I should read everything before writing my comments, I suppose.
People – if you don’t like GOTD, please go away. It is getting really irritating to read the comments of “please GOTD, moderate your comments more” or “oooh GOTD you must be scared, if you have to post this post” and other similar type of commenting. I have been visiting and appreciating GOTD’s software for a long time, and I have never felt the need for these comments. You visit, you like/don’t like the software, download or don’t and leave comments why to help the developer. Period. It’s no different than when you are uninstalling a software when you get a redirect to webpage where the developer is asking you to let them know why you are uninstalling.
GOTD is a great site. Send them an email with site improvement requests, and stop irritating the crap out of people who are trying to use the comments sections to either offer suggestions to developers or decide whether a software is right for their situation to use or not. And quit telling them what they should be blogging about. They were/are just helping inexperienced computer users (not you know-it-alls!) know what could be out there if they are browsing about looking for free software. I think that’s great; I’ve had enough people I know get their pc’s compromised and I’ve spent hours fixing them. Any little bit of knowledge helps. And if they should be wanting to tout their site, why the heck not? If you had a product/service wouldn’t you??? Negative nellies, please go home.
I have gotten many GREAT programs at GOTD. I have also gotten GREAT programs from download.com (cnet), FileHippo, tucows, Freeware Files, Freeware Home, etc…. The programs you can access for free on GOTD are usually better programs from commercial developers. I often call my friends and family and tell them to go to GOTD and get this-or-that RIGHT NOW as it meets a need they have. I am not an expert or an IT Specialist; but I am (unfortunately at times) the “go-to” person for computer repair in my family and in my circle of friends. This tip is not necessary with GOTD programs, but whenever you download a new program ALWAYS check the install file with your anti-virus. Then, when you install the new program, READ EVERY SCREEN!! Uncheck all add-on crap like toolbars, shopping sites, and free registry checkers. There really is no such thing as a free lunch. On GOTD you cannot back-up the program for re-install later. With cnet you have to use their proprietary download wrapper. With alot of freeware sites you have to read and uncheck options to prevent installing crap-ware and spy-ware. GOTD IS A GREAT AND A TRUSTWORTHY SITE, but it is not the only good and trustworthy site. Just like clipping grocery coupons, free software requires less money, but more time.
I usually don’t spend my time making comments on a site, but this time I’m doing so because I just don’t understand why there are comments at all!
To me GOTD is simply stating the difference in safe download sites and unsafe download sites. That’s all. I see no comments about how GOTD is better or is worried about competition. Just plain simple facts that everyone should know when downloading from various sites. Just a simple comment, a useful comment to both users and developers. Especially for newbies.
Where did all these thoughts come from, thoughts such as GOTD being worried about competition, etc.? How does one come up with these thoughts?
I only see that GOTD is stating a warning as other reputable sites should also do, sites like “My Play City,” “CNET” and others.
My only complaint/comment, (which is really not a complaint, just an irritation), is when you want search for “Free Full Version Game Downloads” on “Google,” (or another search site), you get sites listed as “Free Downloads” when in fact they are not free but are only trial versions! This to me is NOT a “Free Download” but simply a way to get someone to buy their games, which is good for folks who like to “Try before they Buy.”
I end up wasting time downloading only a trial version, thinking it was a full version game, which some sites don’t mention until after you download it. I only ask for these “Trial” sites please list themselves on the search engines not as “Free Downloads” but “Free Trial Downloads”
At least GOTD is listed as “Free Downloads” and really does give away full version downloads I can trust.
Thank you, GOTD, for your great site and thank you also for mentioning a few other “Free Download” sites, (full version sites), in your “Moderator Comments” when you are giving away a free game. I know of no other site that will do that, including “My Play City,” (which is another good site for free games, given everyday. Another site you can trust).
I would like to thank GOTD for all the good free games that I have downloaded thru the site. I am not very computer savvy, but always can trust GOTD. I have downloaded FREE programs from other sites to find that after scanning for ‘viruses and malware’ I need to pay to buy the program that ‘fixes’ the problems. Sometimes these free programs find 600-800 ‘errors’. Errors that supposedly cant be fixed without paying for something. I am thankful for the information on downloading ‘free’ software. Thank you!!!
Big up to you MariV. I couldn’t agree more. All these peeps and their negative comments should go and shop at the copycat sites. GOTD has always been the place for me, and I’m not desperate enough to chance fly by nite sites.
Totally agree with you about the ‘Free Trial Downloads’ scenario.
Maybe someone out there can direct us to a ‘TRUE FREE GAME DOWNLOAD’ Site.
Any time you download “free” anything you are usually getting a “pig in a poke”. You HOPE it works as promised, sometimes it does, other times… not so much. We all have things we would like to see changed here and other places. I do trust what I download here. I have a few commenters I also count on and read what they have to say before I bother to download anything. But, I am one of the lucky ones. I have a separate hardrive I download to and use to try the software for myself.
I, for one, thank you for having this fabulous site and I have recommended it to many, many people. As far as the other sites go, I trust less, download less, and seldom recommend to a FRIEND.