Buyer beware: pointless text file wins 16 software awards

September 5, 2007 by Kiltak |

Anyone who likes to download freeware and shareware tools from the Internet should read this cautionary tale about the value of “five-star awards” from sites that aggregate and mirror downloads.

Andy Brice, a UK-based software developer, had grown suspicious about “awards” ascribed to freeware and shareware programs that he knew lacked functions and features of rival offerings. So he invented a program named AwardMeStars. It didn’t run; in fact, it wasn’t actually a program. It was a text file comprised solely of the words, “This program does nothing at all,” and renamed as an executable (.EXE). He had a third party submit his file to just about every software aggregation site; then he sat back to watch the results.

His non-operating, do-nothing program won 16 awards. Various cites labeled it “Certified 5-Star,” “Editor’s Pick,” and “Cool Discovery.” All of them, obviously, from sites that didn’t even bother to note the blatant name of the program, nor try to run it even once.

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9 Comments »

Comment by Bucky
2007-09-05 08:55:44
Interesting to say the least. The best source for honesty (IMO) is speaking with other people that have actually purchased / used the product.
 
2007-09-05 09:00:06
Wow. Those are some reliable awards. (That said, I wouldn’t be too keen on running every .exe that people sent me either. ;) )
 
Comment by Mackenzie
2007-09-05 09:55:25
Hey this is old….wasn’t it on Digg (I think?) like 3 weeks ago?
Comment by Kiltak
2007-09-05 10:05:34
Maybe, but I’ve only stumbled on it today.. thought it was interesting enough to post :)
 
 
Comment by Jrtcs
2007-09-05 10:24:38
But it downloaded so quickly. Doesn’t that count for something?
Comment by Binary Assassin
2008-05-16 05:34:38
LMAO! It counts for sure if you are on dial up!!
 
 
Comment by Tish
2007-09-05 13:47:50
Unbelievable. Maybe I should pull out that old tic tac toe game I created when I took Intro to VB. Maybe I can get rich! ;)
 
2007-09-06 04:50:33
[...] Source: “Buyer beware: pointless text file wins 16 software awards” by WatchGuard Wire, via [Geeks Are Sexy]. [...]
 
Comment by Steve Savage
2007-11-15 09:43:54
Just ask somebody on slashdot if its good software. They hate everything so if they say its good…
 
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