A File Association Faux Pas

Allow me to rant for a moment. Prior to burning a dual-layer DVD disc (which, as it turns out, I wasn’t able to do anyway because my first-generation MacBook doesn’t support dual-layer DVD-Rs or DVD+Rs) of my review copy of Crysis, I decided to check for updates to Nero v7 using the suite’s ProductSetup utility. The program found newer versions available for a variety of Ultra Edition applications, and I (naively) accepted the update offer. Two hours later, I’m up and running again, after surmounting the following stumbles:

1. The first time I initiated update, the substantial (>100 MByte) payload hung partway through the download (a fact which’ll be no surprise to anyone who’s attempted a manual download from Nero’s molasses-slow and, I believe, Germany-located server(s) in the past). My attempts to abort the update via the ‘Cancel’ button were unsuccessful; although the program indicated that I could terminate it, it continued running. I eventually resorted to Task Manager in order to end the program.
2. The next several times I attempted update, I got MSI Installer error messages and consequent aborts.
3. When the update finally succeeded, I was subsequently greeted with reassigned associations…mind you done without my permission…that by default linked numerous audio, still image and video file extensions to Nero programs.

This last bullet is the most irritating of the three, to me. How incredibly arrogant of Nero to monkey with my system in such a significant manner, without at least having the decency to ask me (and allow me to opt out) first. Better yet, the program should have left well enough alone, since it was doing an update versus a first-time install. Couple this behaviour with the Nero v8 upgrade debacle that Jason Dunn documented in a two-part post to his Digital Media Thoughts blog, and my opinion of the company and its products is pretty low right now.

RealNetworks’ early RealPlayer versions acted in a similarly egregious manner. Although more recent installers from the company are less heavy-handed in their behaviours, I know lots of people who to this day flat-out refuse to put Real’s products on their systems. When coding your software, keep in mind the maxim, ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.’ I’m certainly not someone who’s willing to be fooled twice, and I daresay no other end user would willingly be tagged with that description, either.

If you want to cultivate a long-term relationship with your customers, as well as avoid lots of costly customer support interactions, don’t over-reach in the short term.