Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As a long-time Amazon customer, I was happy to see the Turbotax software available for a reasonable discount. After paying for the software, I was astonished to discover that Amazon REQUIRES that the user download and install a separate piece of software in order to download the purchased software. I've run across similar situations at other software vendors such as Adobe or Microsoft, but in those cases the vendor offers an alternative download process that does not require installation of their proprietary download software. Amazon does not offer any alternative. Either install their download software and take your chances on what it will do to a stable system (and who knows what information it collects and sends to parties unknown) or you don't get the product you purchased. I reluctantly downloaded and tried to install the Amazon downloader, and it locked up my browser so solidly that I couldn't kill the session at all. Task Manager wouldn't even load. Impossible to restart the machine. I had to manually cycle power to the system. I would recommend against purchasing any downloaded software from Amazon until they provide an alternative download process that does not require the installation of any proprietary crapware. Amazon did issue me a credit for the transaction, and I will now purchase the physical product (CD in a box) <http://www.amazon.com/TurboTax-Deluxe-Federal-State-efile/dp/B002RS8F0K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1260356395&sr=8-1>, despite the waste of all the packaging, because it's the only reasonable alternative.