Fergie's Tech Blog

A Interview with 180Solutions' CEO

Brian Krebs writes on Security Fix:

As I wander the halls of the 180solutions mother ship in Bellevue, Wash., I notice that each of the company's departments is fitted with large, wall-mounted plasma screen televisions that display graphs charting 180's daily and weekly sales and revenue numbers. The display nearest the marketing department showed that 180 pulled in more than $1 million in the past week alone serving ads to people who have its adware installed on their computers. Today's estimated revenue is slightly more than $100,000; the graph showing how much the company has actually earned so far today reads $2,966, but then again it is just after 10 a.m.

Shortly after arriving at 180, I sit down with the company's co-founder and chief executive, Keith Smith. I ask Smith about the criticism that his company's software too often ends up on PCs without the owner's knowledge or permission, and how he thinks the company's "users" view the quality of their software.

posted by Fergie @ 2/18/2006 05:35:00 PM