Warning: Don’t Download Software From SourceForge If You Can Help It

Looks like SourceForge has backtracked on this particular issue, but I’m happy  to pass along the warning that SourceForge has engaged in these tactics.  GIMP is the free, open-source digital editing tool that I use (a replacement for PhotoShop).

In 2013, GIMP’s developers pulled the GIMP Windows downloads from SourceForge. SourceForge was full of misleading advertisements masquerading as “Download” buttons — something that’s a problem all over the web. SourceForge then rolled out its own Windows installer filled with junkware, and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. In response, the GIMP project abandoned SourceForge and began hosting their downloads elsewhere. In 2015, SourceForge pushed back. Considering the old GIMP account on SourceForge “abandoned,” they took control over it, locking out the original maintainer. They then put GIMP downloads back up on SourceForge, wrapped in SourceForge’s own junkware-filled installer. If you’re downloading GIMP from SourceForge, you’re getting a version filled with junkware, one that GIMP’s developers don’t want you to use. —How-to Geek

Post was last modified on 7 Jun 2015 1:04 pm

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Dennis G. Jerz