StopBadware Releases Alert on RealPlayer

From StopBadware Project Manager Max Weinstein...

StopBadware has released an alert identifying RealPlayer as badware. See our press release here and the complete alert here.

Interestingly, RealPlayer 10.5 and RealPlayer 11, both of which are distributed widely, both violate our badware guidelines, but in different ways.

RealPlayer 10.5 is badware because it doesn’t tell the user that its “Message Center” feature will pop up ads from the system tray if the user doesn’t register the application.

RealPlayer 11 is badware because it installs the Rhapsody Player Engine without notifying the user. When the user uninstalls RealPlayer, Rhapsody Player Engine is left behind, unless the user also knows to uninstall it separately...
-
You can read Max's full post here, and find the full RealPlayer report over on the StopBadware site.