SKYPE USERS: MS installing apps without consent

Um, no.

EasyBits has a deal with Skype which involved very little oversight.

They have now egregiously abused it.

Basically, EasyBits thought they would push this new game along with their update. If you go look on your Skype install, you've almost certainly got the "Backgammon" and "Chinese Checkers" games installed. They thought you would like to have "Go" as well. So without properly testing this, or abiding by the usual processes in place for these things, they just merrily tossed it in.

Then they borked everything up and created this huge PR nightmare for Skype. And for Microsoft, too, thanks to the timing.

Nobody anywhere in this process has a lack of respect for users or any sort of malicious intent. Basically, EasyBits decided to implement their new game as a separate EXE which needed to be authorised. The dialog to authorise it is exactly what you should have gotten. That is Skype respecting the users.

However, EasyBits hosed up their installer and missed the very important use case of "if you do NOT want to install it, does it NOT install?" - so when you say "no I would not like your stupid game, thankyouohsoverymuch" it happily says "Okay, I'll install anyway!"

This was a mistake. It's a small one and a reasonably simple one. So, too, is it a mistake where a lot of redundant crap goes in your registry that the uninstall doesn't remove. Again: small and reasonably simple.

This was not any kind of big extended middle finger to the Skype community. It was typical small-business stupidity in the QA department. EasyBits is almost entirely responsible for it, and they will undoubtedly be suitably chastised for it.