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(1) Superfish isn't a Chinese company -- it was founded in Tel Aviv and moved to Palo Alto; (2) Superfish wasn't installed on ThinkPads; (3) it wasn't on Leno

(1) Superfish isn't a Chinese company -- it was founded in Tel Aviv and moved to Palo Alto; (2) Superfish wasn't installed on ThinkPads; (3) it wasn't on Lenovo laptops for long: they uninstalled it and apologised.

olyjohn 9y ago
The fact that they did it in the first place is enough for most people. An apology hardly covers the potential for damage. All in the name of some bundled shitware to make them a few extra bucks. Totally inexcusable, and I don't see why people jump in to defend them at all.
- Crespyl 9y ago
  Yeah, I wish I could like them, since Lenovo/Thinkpad has been putting out some pretty appealing hardware recently, but that kind of irresponsible behavior demands a response from people who understand the severity. I refuse to buy or recommend Lenovo for my family members for at least another three years yet, no matter how much they seem to have reformed. If they haven't had a repeat incident in that time I'll be glad to start considering them again.
  - scholia 9y ago
    You could boycott Lenovo-branded machines while not boycotting ThinkPads. As far as I know, ThinkPads have been beyond reproach. It's a valuable brand for Lenovo, and it acquired the whole IBM division, not just the name. I managed to be a ThinkPad fanboy for decades while despising IBM ;-)
- scholia 9y ago
  You also don't see why someone should jump in to correct a wrong statement? Either way, the potential for damage wasn't that obvious: it could have happened to any company. (Employees often make commercial decisions without understanding the technical ramifications.) Also, Superfish said it wasn't its fault: it blamed Komodo's tool. This amounts to a similar type of buck-passing. I've bought a couple of Lenovo machines since Superfish, mainly because they were fantastic value for money. I also know that if I wasn't happy with the installation, I could download Windows 10 from Microsoft and do a clean installation.
  - wlesieutre 9y ago
    >I also know that if I wasn't happy with the installation, I could download Windows 10 from Microsoft and do a clean installation. You’d think so. It turns out not though. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150812/11395231925/lenovo-busted-stealthily-installing-crapware-via-bios-fresh-windows-installs.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150812/11395231925/lenov...
    - scholia 9y ago
      Great point! Luckily I didn't buy any of the models that included that feature (and none of them were ThinkPads) or I would have had to run Lenovo's LSE Windows Disabler Tool from https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/en/downloads/ds104370 https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/en/downloads/ds104370
pfranz 9y ago
You sure they weren't referring to Lenovo Service Engine or Lenovo Accelerator? Sure, they may not have installed these things on all of their laptops, but they've been caught quite a few times recently and it seems like a bad trend. The UEFI stuff that installs on a vanilla Windows install is super sketchy.
- scholia 9y ago
  How likely is it that someone would describe Lenovo Service Engine or Lenovo Accelerator as Chinese spyware?
  - pfranz 9y ago
    How would you describe it? Lenovo is a Chinese multinational company and Lenovo Service Engine phoned home with personal information. How do you describe spyware? I get that companies may not have bad motives. It's difficult to survey users real-life use cases. But companies have abused users with pre-installed software that's slow, poorly written, creates new vectors for exploit, shares "anonymous" information that often isn't a) secured properly or b) still personally identifiable.

olyjohn 9y ago

The fact that they did it in the first place is enough for most people. An apology hardly covers the potential for damage. All in the name of some bundled shitware to make them a few extra bucks. Totally inexcusable, and I don't see why people jump in to defend them at all.

Crespyl 9y ago
Yeah, I wish I could like them, since Lenovo/Thinkpad has been putting out some pretty appealing hardware recently, but that kind of irresponsible behavior demands a response from people who understand the severity. I refuse to buy or recommend Lenovo for my family members for at least another three years yet, no matter how much they seem to have reformed. If they haven't had a repeat incident in that time I'll be glad to start considering them again.
- scholia 9y ago
  You could boycott Lenovo-branded machines while not boycotting ThinkPads. As far as I know, ThinkPads have been beyond reproach. It's a valuable brand for Lenovo, and it acquired the whole IBM division, not just the name. I managed to be a ThinkPad fanboy for decades while despising IBM ;-)
scholia 9y ago
You also don't see why someone should jump in to correct a wrong statement? Either way, the potential for damage wasn't that obvious: it could have happened to any company. (Employees often make commercial decisions without understanding the technical ramifications.) Also, Superfish said it wasn't its fault: it blamed Komodo's tool. This amounts to a similar type of buck-passing. I've bought a couple of Lenovo machines since Superfish, mainly because they were fantastic value for money. I also know that if I wasn't happy with the installation, I could download Windows 10 from Microsoft and do a clean installation.
- wlesieutre 9y ago
  >I also know that if I wasn't happy with the installation, I could download Windows 10 from Microsoft and do a clean installation. You’d think so. It turns out not though. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150812/11395231925/lenovo-busted-stealthily-installing-crapware-via-bios-fresh-windows-installs.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150812/11395231925/lenov...
  - scholia 9y ago
    Great point! Luckily I didn't buy any of the models that included that feature (and none of them were ThinkPads) or I would have had to run Lenovo's LSE Windows Disabler Tool from https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/en/downloads/ds104370 https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/en/downloads/ds104370

pfranz 9y ago

You sure they weren't referring to Lenovo Service Engine or Lenovo Accelerator? Sure, they may not have installed these things on all of their laptops, but they've been caught quite a few times recently and it seems like a bad trend. The UEFI stuff that installs on a vanilla Windows install is super sketchy.

scholia 9y ago
How likely is it that someone would describe Lenovo Service Engine or Lenovo Accelerator as Chinese spyware?
- pfranz 9y ago
  How would you describe it? Lenovo is a Chinese multinational company and Lenovo Service Engine phoned home with personal information. How do you describe spyware? I get that companies may not have bad motives. It's difficult to survey users real-life use cases. But companies have abused users with pre-installed software that's slow, poorly written, creates new vectors for exploit, shares "anonymous" information that often isn't a) secured properly or b) still personally identifiable.