I quickly came to view this word in the same light as I do " The
Borg " or " Microsoft ".
Here is a report on Plaxo. from http://www.meskill.net/archives/000467.html
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December 13, 2003
Plaxo evil?...
[UPDATE: I have subsequently made a number of posts regarding Plaxo
at The Social Software Weblog that you might want to reference as I
have 'softened' my opinion on Plaxo, and so has David Coursey,
quoted below, for that matter.]
Yes, says David Coursey, Executive Editor of ZDNet AnchorDesk in
'Why my address book is spamming you.' David has been testing
add-ons for Outlook and 'spamming' his address book acquaintances
with requests for infomation. The add-ons he has been testing are:
AccuCard, GoodContacts, Plaxo, and he is looking for feedback on
AddresSender, which he did not get an opportunity to test. David
has decided to stay with the service he started out with:
GoodContacts.
The following is an excerpt from David's article above - his
opinion on Plaxo:
...I'LL START my comparison of these services with Plaxo, because
Plaxo gives me the creeps. There are several reasons for this.
First, every time I get a Plaxo request from someone seeking my
information, the message tells me how many Plaxo requests I've
received previously; I'm up to 50 Plaxo requests. This means Plaxo
is meticulously keeping track of who it's sent mail to. Which makes
me feel like Plaxo is stalking me.
Second, how does Plaxo intend to make money? Plaxo is a free
service and their Web site says the company, which has raised
something north of $10 million in venture capital, plans to sell
premium services to business users. Before I give Plaxo my
information to store on its computers, I'd like to know what the
company's specific plans are to earn a profit, and how my
information fits into those plans. So far, there are no answers to
those questions on the company's Web site.
Third, Plaxo is founded by a Napster co-founder, Sean Parker. Based
on Napster's interesting concept of "fair use" and property
ownership, I will never trust an ex-Napster exec with anything,
especially not my personal data. Plus, as far as I'm concerned, any
money made from Napster is tainted. Yes, I do think businesses
should pay attention to ethics, and there should be penalties for
those that don't.
Fourth, Plaxo seems to rely on creating a network of Plaxo users,
information about which resides on Plaxo's own computers. This is
used to update information automatically in the background on the
member's machines. This is an interesting feature, but requires a
lot more trust than Plaxo has earned from me.
Finally, Plaxo makes a big deal about telling you how trustworthy
they are. This reminds me of a used car dealer where I grew up who
called himself "Honest Joe" or something. I forget what the guy was
indicted for. But I digress.
I don't respond to Plaxo requests, won't join Plaxo, and recommend
you don't, either. On the other hand, Plaxo is free, promises to
stay free for individuals, and if you don't share my concerns to
heck with you. Seriously, Plaxo seems to work fine, it will just
never work for me...
K-Collector Topics: Plaxo Spam testing Napster
December 13, 2003 02:06 PM | google it! | threadorati
Comments
After trying Plaxo and installing a fire wall protection, I was
amazed at how often Plaxo was found to be accessing the internet
when I don't use Out Look for a primary email carrier. Fortunately
I have very few address on Out Look.
I got rid of it.
MHT
--
Adrian
