Misplaced Pages

#427572

45-564: Its name was later used interchangeably with its Gain advertising network, which it claimed serviced over 50 million users. Claria exited the adware business at the end of second quarter 2006, and eventually shut down completely in October 2008. The "Gator" (also known as Gain AdServer ) products collected personal information from its unknowing users, including websites visited and portions of credit card numbers to target and display ads on

90-465: A Gigabit Ethernet startup focused on developing high-speed network switches . In 1996, Cisco Systems acquired the firm for $ 220 million, with Bechtolsheim owning 60%. He became vice president and general manager of Cisco's Gigabit Systems Business Unit, until leaving the company in December 2003 to head Kealia, Inc. Bechtolsheim founded Kealia in early 2001 with Stanford Professor David Cheriton ,

135-539: A cloud-based interface for mobile and computer websites in 2009. He was reportedly an early investor in Claria Corporation , which ceased operating in 2008. From 2015 to 2017, Bechtolsheim invested in PerimeterX, an automated attack mitigation SaaS . Bechtolsheim received a Smithsonian Leadership Award for Innovation in 1999 and a Stanford Entrepreneur Company of the year award. He was also elected

180-603: A member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2000 for contributions to the design of computer workstations and high-performance network switching. Bechtolsheim gave the opening keynote speech at the International Supercomputing Conference in 2009. In 2012, he was voted by IT Pros as the person who contributed most to server innovation in the last 20 years. In 2024, Bechtolsheim settled insider trading allegations with

225-435: A new company NebuAd was formed with some former Claria employees with another approach to targeted advertisements. On April 21, 2008, Claria sold the gator.com domain. In October 2008, rebranded as Jelly Cloud, the company quietly shut down. Adware Adware , often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue by automatically displaying online advertisements in

270-782: A partner in Granite Systems, to work on advanced server technologies using the Opteron processor from Advanced Micro Devices . In February 2004, Sun Microsystems announced it was acquiring Kealia in a stock swap. Due to the acquisition, Bechtolsheim returned to Sun again as senior vice president and chief architect. Kealia hardware technology was used in the Sun Fire X4500 storage product. Along with Cheriton, in 2005 Bechtolsheim launched another high-speed networking company, Arastra. Arastra later changed its name to Arista Networks . Bechtolsheim left Sun Microsystems to become

315-477: A separate detection module. A new wrinkle is adware that disables anti-malware and virus protection; technical remedies are available. Adware has also been discovered in certain low-cost Android devices, particularly those made by small Chinese firms running on Allwinner systems-on-chip . There are even cases where adware code is embedded deep into files stored on the system and boot partitions, to which removal involves extensive (and complex) modifications to

360-431: A variety of ways, including a static box display, a banner display, a full screen, a video , a pop-up ad or in some other form. All forms of advertising carry health, ethical, privacy and security risks for users. The 2003 Microsoft Encyclopedia of Security and some other sources use the term "adware" differently: "any software that installs itself on your system without your knowledge and displays advertisements when

405-429: Is childhood eating disorders—several studies have reported a positive association between exposure to beauty and fashion magazines and an increased level of weight concerns or eating disorder symptoms in girls. The term adware is frequently used to describe a form of malware (malicious software) which presents unwanted advertisements to the user of a computer. The advertisements produced by adware are sometimes in

450-443: Is downloaded or installed on a computer without the user's knowledge and consent. Unresolved issues remain concerning how, what and when consumers need to be told about software installed on their computers. For instance, distributors often disclose in an end-user license agreement that there is additional software bundled with primary software, but some participants did not view such disclosure as sufficient to infer consent. Much of

495-532: The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in which he agreed to pay a civil penalty of nearly $ 1 million, and is prohibited from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years. The SEC accused him of misusing confidential knowledge of Cisco's proposed acquisition of Acacia Communications, stating that the illegal option trades netted over $ 400,000 in profits between his associate and relative, to whom he passed

SECTION 10

#1732798408428

540-429: The firmware . In recent years, machine-learning based systems have been implemented to detect malicious adware on Android devices by examining features in the flow of network traffic. Andy Bechtolsheim Andreas Maria Maximilian Freiherr von Mauchenheim genannt Bechtolsheim (born 30 September 1955 ) is a German electrical engineer, entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 and

585-528: The "Gator Boycott List." In February 2004, Gator made a confidential settlement of litigation brought against it by seven top newspaper publishers, including The Washington Post , the New York Post , The New York Times , and Dow Jones . The Washington Post , L.L. Bean and Extended Stay America suits were similarly settled. Gator corporation released a suite of "free" Internet applications that performed various tasks. However, after installing

630-581: The Chairman and Chief Development Officer of Arista in October, 2008, but stated he still was associated with Sun in an advisory role. Bechtolsheim and Cheriton were two of the first investors in Google , investing US$ 100,000 each in September 1998. When he gave the check to Larry Page and Sergey Brin , Google's founders, the company had not yet been legally incorporated. Claims that Bechtolsheim coined

675-619: The SUN project. Support was provided by the Computer Science Department and DARPA . The modular computer was used for research projects such as developing the V-System , and for early Internet routers . Bechtolsheim tried to interest other companies in manufacturing the workstations, but only got lukewarm responses. One of the companies building computers for VLSI design was Daisy Systems , where Vinod Khosla worked at

720-450: The applications, a user would continually be shown ads from the Gain network, even when the programs were not running in the foreground. This suite included: While using the software, a user was shown advertisements. According to Computer Associates ' spyware information center, all applications in the suite are classified as both adware and spyware , as they both display ads unrelated to

765-620: The computer user's activities without their consent and reports it to the software's author is called spyware . Adware may collect the personal information of the user, causing privacy concerns. Most adware operates legally and some adware manufacturers have even sued antivirus companies for blocking adware. Programs have been developed to detect, quarantine and remove advertisement-displaying malware, including Ad-Aware , Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware , Spyware Doctor and Spybot – Search & Destroy . In addition, almost all commercial antivirus software currently detect adware and spyware, or offer

810-519: The computers of web surfers. It billed itself as the "leader in online behavioral marketing". The company changed its name to Claria Corporation on October 30, 2003 in an effort to "better communicate the expanding breadth of offerings that [they] provide to consumers and advertisers", according to CEO and President Jeff McFadden. Originally released in 1999, Gator was most frequently installed together with programs being offered free of charge, such as Go!Zilla , or Kazaa . The development of these programs

855-479: The developer may provide the software to the user free of charge or at a reduced price. The income derived from presenting advertisements to the user may allow or motivate the developer to continue to develop, maintain and upgrade the software product. The use of advertising-supported software in business is becoming increasingly popular, with a third of IT and business executives in a 2007 survey by McKinsey & Company planning to be using ad-funded software within

900-725: The development of the software with higher fees for advertisers. Examples of advertising-supported software include Adblock Plus ("Acceptable Ads"), the Windows version of the Internet telephony application Skype , and the Amazon Kindle 3 family of e-book readers , which has versions called "Kindle with Special Offers" that display advertisements on the home page and in sleep mode in exchange for substantially lower pricing. In 2012, Microsoft and its advertising division, Microsoft Advertising , announced that Windows 8 ,

945-480: The discussion on the topic involves the idea of informed consent , the assumption being that this standard eliminates any ethical issues with any given software's behavior. If a majority of important software, websites and devices were to adopt similar behavior and only the standard of informed consent is used, then logically a user's only recourse against that behavior would become not using a computer. The contract would become an ultimatum —agree or be ostracized from

SECTION 20

#1732798408428

990-496: The email service Gmail and other Google Workspace products (previously called Google Apps and G Suite), and the social network Facebook . Microsoft has also adopted the advertising-supported model for many of its social software SaaS offerings. The Microsoft Office Live service was also available in an advertising-supported mode. In the view of Federal Trade Commission staff, there appears to be general agreement that software should be considered " spyware " only if it

1035-584: The family relocated again, to Nonnenhorn on Lake Constance in Germany. At age 16, he designed an industrial controller for a nearby company based on the Intel 8008 , which he then programmed in binary code as he had no access to assemblers . Royalties from the product supported much of his education. Bechtolsheim entered the Jugend forscht contest for young researchers, and after entering for three years, won

1080-554: The following two years. Advertisement-funded software is also one of the business models for open-source software . Some software is offered in both an advertising-supported mode and a paid, advertisement-free mode. The latter is usually available after buying a license or registration code that unlocks the mode or a separate version of the software. Some software authors offer advertising-supported versions of their software as an alternative option to business organizations seeking to avoid paying large sums for software licenses, funding

1125-427: The form of a pop-up , sometimes in an "unclosable window" and sometimes injected into web pages. When the term is used in this way, the severity of its implication varies. While some sources rate adware only as an "irritant", others classify it as an "online threat" or even rate it as seriously as computer viruses and trojans . The precise definition of the term in this context also varies. Adware that observes

1170-407: The fundamental ad-supported nature of many Internet publishers by replacing banner ads on web sites with its own, thereby depriving the content provider of the revenue necessary to continue providing that content. In June 2002 a number of large publishers, including the New York Post , The New York Times and Dow Jones & Company , sued Gator Software for its practice of replacing ads. Most of

1215-500: The install process, users must choose whether to install the "free" version (which serves lots of ads as described above) or to pay the $ 30 for a version that serves no ads. Since the announcement to shut the ad network down, Claria has stopped accepting payment for "ad free" versions. Despite its unpopular reputation, Claria Corporation received backing from major venture capital firms, including Greylock , Technology Crossover Ventures , and U.S. Venture Partners . Andy Bechtolsheim

1260-488: The lawsuits were settled out of court in February 2003. Gator attempted to combat spyware labels with litigation . In September 2003 the company threatened sites such as PC Pitstop with libel lawsuits. As part of a settlement signed Sept. 30, (2003), PC Pitstop--which scans computers for hostile and otherwise undesirable code--removed pages from its Spyware Information Center with such titles as "Is Gator Spyware?" and

1305-517: The major release of the Microsoft Windows operating system, would provide built-in methods for software authors to use advertising support as a business model. The idea had been considered since as early as 2005. Most editions of Windows 10 include adware by default. Support by advertising is a popular business model of software as a service (SaaS) on the Web . Notable examples include

1350-503: The modern world. This is a form of psychological coercion and presents an ethical problem with using implied or inferred consent as a standard. There are notable similarities between this situation and binding arbitration clauses which have become inevitable in contracts in the United States. Furthermore, certain forms and strategies of advertising have been shown to lead to psychological harm, especially in children. One example

1395-540: The name "Google" are untrue. However, he did motivate the founders to officially organize the company under that name. As a result of investments like these, Bechtolsheim was seen as one of the most successful " angel investors ", particularly in areas such as electronic design automation (EDA), which refers to the software used by people designing computer chips. He has made a number of successful investments in EDA. In one such EDA company, Magma Design Automation , his stake

Claria Corporation - Misplaced Pages Continue

1440-593: The offer of an Intel internship from Justin Rattner . When Rattner moved to Oregon, Bechtolsheim instead went to Stanford University and became a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering . At Stanford, Bechtolsheim designed a powerful computer (called a workstation ) with built-in networking called the SUN workstation , a name derived from the initials for the Stanford University Network . It

1485-523: The option to remove the software). Microsoft was reportedly contemplating the purchase of Claria, which many consumers felt to be a conflict of interest. Other spyware-reporting agencies, such as Computer Associates and Panda Software 's TruPrevent Technologies , still label Claria products as both adware and spyware. In March 2006, Claria claimed that it would be exiting the adware business and focusing on personalized search technology. On July 1, 2006, Claria ceased displaying pop-up ads. Around this time,

1530-771: The physics prize in 1974. He began studying electrical engineering with a focus on data processing at the Technical University of Munich with the support of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. Andreas was annoyed that the students did not have access to computers and frustrated by his studies at the time, he went to Carnegie Mellon University in 1975 with the help of a Fulbright scholarship , and obtained his Master's degree in Computer Engineering in 1976. In 1977, Bechtolsheim moved to Silicon Valley based on

1575-400: The product while the primary user interface is not visible. These programs all employ the user's Internet connection to report behavior information back to Claria. Although the user's explicit consent is always required to install these applications, Claria took advantage of the fact that most users choose not bothering to educate themselves about what they are installing. In most cases, during

1620-665: The team developing the BSD series of Unix operating systems at UC Berkeley ; Bill is usually counted as the fourth member of the founding team. For a while Bechtolsheim and Joy shared an apartment in Palo Alto, California . The first product, the Sun-1 , included the Stanford CPU board design with improved memory expansion, and a sheet-metal case. By the end of the year, the experimental Ethernet interface designed by Bechtolsheim

1665-539: The time. Khosla had graduated a couple of years earlier from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with Scott McNealy , who managed manufacturing at Onyx Systems . Khosla, McNealy and Bechtolsheim wrote a short business plan and quickly received funding from venture capitalists in 1982. Bechtolsheim left Stanford to co-found the company, Sun Microsystems , as employee number one, with McNealy and Khosla, and with Bill Joy , who had been part of

1710-510: The user browses the Internet", i.e., a form of malware . Some developers offer software free of charge and rely on advertising revenue to recoup their expenses and generate income. Some offer a version without advertising, for a fee. In legitimate software , the advertising functions are integrated into or bundled with the program. Adware is usually seen by the developer as a way to recover development costs and generate revenue. In some cases,

1755-455: The user interface or on a screen presented during the installation process. The software may generate two types of revenue: one is for the display of the advertisement and another on a " pay-per-click " basis, if the user clicks on the advertisement. Some advertisements also act as spyware , collecting and reporting data about the user, to be sold or used for targeted advertising or user profiling . The software may implement advertisements in

1800-702: Was an early investor. They filed for a $ 150 million IPO in April 2004, stating income of $ 35 million on revenues of $ 90 million in 2003. Investors were concerned that its practices might be illegal, at least in Utah at the time. Another concern was that most revenue came from one partner: Yahoo Overture . Claria withdrew the filing in August 2004. In July 2005, Microsoft Corporation came under fire when it revealed that their anti-spyware product would no longer quarantine Claria software as "spyware" (though it still offered users

1845-589: Was inspired by the Xerox Alto computer developed at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center . Bechtolsheim was a "no fee consultant" at Xerox, meaning he was not remunerated directly but had free access to the research being done there. At the time, Lynn Conway was using workstations to design very-large-scale integration (VLSI) circuits. Bechtolsheim's advisor was Forest Baskett . In 1980, Vaughan Pratt also provided leadership to

Claria Corporation - Misplaced Pages Continue

1890-464: Was its chief hardware designer. As of July 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth at $ 24.3   billion. Bechtolsheim was born at Hängeberg am Ammersee , located in Finning , Landsberg , Bavaria, the second of four children. The isolated house had no television or close neighbors, so he experimented with electronics as a child. His family moved to Rome in 1963. Five years later, in 1968,

1935-550: Was partially funded by revenue from advertising displayed by Gator. By mid-2003 Gator was installed on an estimated 35 million PCs. Even though Gator was installed with an uninstall available via Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel on Microsoft Windows , many spyware removal tools can also detect and remove it. Gator's end user license agreement attempted to disallow its manual removal by prohibiting "unauthorized means" of uninstallation. The Gator software undercut

1980-511: Was replaced by a commercial board from 3Com . Sun Microsystems had its initial public offering in 1986 and reached $ 1 billion in sales by 1988. Bechtolsheim formed a project code-named UniSun around this time to design a small, inexpensive desktop computer for the educational market. The result was the SPARCstation 1 (known as "campus"), the start of another line of Sun products. In 1995, Bechtolsheim left Sun to found Granite Systems,

2025-852: Was valued around $ 60 million. He was an early investor in another EDA start-up company, Co-Design Automation, which developed SystemVerilog which is used to design almost all digital hardware. Bechtolsheim invested in Tapulous , the maker of music games for the Apple iPhone . Tapulous was acquired by the Walt Disney Company in 2010. He joined George T. Haber, a former colleague at Sun, to invest in wireless chip company CrestaTech in 2006 and 2008. Bechtolsheim invested in all of Haber's previous startups: CompCore purchased by Zoran , GigaPixel purchased by 3Dfx and Mobilygen purchased by Maxim Integrated Products in 2008, as well as Moovweb ,

#427572