This recent Google "crackdown" was making rounds in shareware circles.
Basically, a shareware vendor will have their AdWords account suspended with some harsh wording and the stated reason would be that the website doesn't have either (a) uninstall instructions next to the download button (b) terms and conditions next to the download button (c) the software is of "unwanted" type (d) some other random thing (that was A-OK before) not being quite up to sniff. All in all, it looks just some random nitpicking that will go away only if the matter is escalated, which takes several weeks to process. The general sentiment seems to be that Google no longer gives a flying f*ck about smaller AdWords customers and/or some run-away manager is basically having a field day with enforcing arbitrary clauses of their AdWords T&C.
What's going on in reality - nobody knows because of how "open" and communicative on the issue Google is.
Before Google's new terms for software AdWords, it was extremely common for scumbags to wrap freeware or OSS in spyware and buy ads for the software's name. Users would click what looked like the first result, land on what looked like a legitimate download page, and end up with something ugly like Conduit.
I'm the "computer geek" for some friends and family, so I've fixed up a good number of PCs, and AdWords has been by far the #1 vector for malware. A lot of people in my position just started installing ad blockers on every PC they work on, to save trouble later. Google's new approach has a lot of problems, obviously, but they're not just power-tripping.
So instead of punishing the people who eg wrapped vlc in spyware, they decided to screw over good actors? I think the clear difference is the wrong thing was easy for google to do (though unlikely to actually help at all -- nobody reads eula or uninstall directions), and the right thing -- directly targeting the bad actors and booting them from adwords -- would have taken work and money.
Basically, a shareware vendor will have their AdWords account suspended with some harsh wording and the stated reason would be that the website doesn't have either (a) uninstall instructions next to the download button (b) terms and conditions next to the download button (c) the software is of "unwanted" type (d) some other random thing (that was A-OK before) not being quite up to sniff. All in all, it looks just some random nitpicking that will go away only if the matter is escalated, which takes several weeks to process. The general sentiment seems to be that Google no longer gives a flying f*ck about smaller AdWords customers and/or some run-away manager is basically having a field day with enforcing arbitrary clauses of their AdWords T&C.
What's going on in reality - nobody knows because of how "open" and communicative on the issue Google is.