180solutions just pulled a ‘Gator’ and will soon change it’s name. They are merging with Hotbar another company that has a bad adware reputation and will be changing the name of the company to Zango. This story, just in from Clickz: 180solutions, Hotbar to Merge

“As one of the founders of the concept, and the leader in desktop advertising, we believe more than ever in the desktop advertising or adware model,” Baur said. “With the hard work that’s gone into provide the right protections for consumers, publishers and advertisers, there’s no reason for us to be in any way sheepish or apologetic.”

After the merger, the 180solutions corporate entity will cease to exist, with all consumer-facing products and the publisher network falling under the Zango brand. The company’s advertiser-facing network, Metrics Direct, will keep its name for the moment, though the company intends to bring that under the Zango brand in the months ahead as well.”