Macromedia Redesigns Flash Download Page

I don't know if you caught wind of this, but Macromedia caused quite an uproar recently by bundling the Y! Toolbar with the Flash Player download. Macromedia did offer Y! free Flash player downloads, but they were opt-out, meaning that users could potentially just click the download button and unintentionally install the Y! toolbar inside their browser. Burak's blog has a good summary as well as links to the old and new designs.

My opinion, it is perfectly fine for Macromedia to bundle software with the Flash player if they want. Companies bundle software all the time. However, this decision is clearly not a decision that Macromedia made with consumers in mind. It is all about making agreements with Yahoo! so that Macromedia can increase the adoption rate of the Flash player. Sure, Macromedia has to do what Macromedia has to do, but just imagine the uproar if .NET installed some third party toolbar in your browser by default. I really don't see how installing the Y! Toolbar enhances someone's experience with Flash or adds something that the majority of the people downloading the player are going to want... especially in an age where it seems like every other spyware program wants to install its own toolbar in your browser.

Update: Really good explaination of Macromedia's viewpoint on this issue over at Mesh's blog http://www.markme.com/mesh/archives/007219.cfm along with feedback from the Flash community (a lot of people still seem to be unhappy with the redesign). Still, I think Mesh's post is very clear that this toolbar deal is all about building a relationship with Yahoo! that will further Flash adoption rates and get Macromedia some extra cash to fund Flash player development, not about making their customers happy (unless you count indirectly making their developers happy through upgrades that this thing is apparently funding). However, as much as I can understand people being kinda ticked off about this, in the long run Macromedia is probably coming out ahead.