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Lenovo caught for unremovable crapware in BIOS, so I don't recommend to buy their products anymore. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/12/lenovo_firmware_na

Lenovo caught for unremovable crapware in BIOS, so I don't recommend to buy their products anymore. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/12/lenovo_firmware_nasty/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/12/lenovo_firmware_nas...

lucb1e 7y ago
I was wondering what "crapware in BIOS" is, it turns out to be software in the UEFI/BIOS system that installs software in your Windows install. I doubt I'll be affected as a Linux user. And it's a little short sighted to go "they did something wrong in 2015 on Windows, let's just exclude one of the vendors shipping Linux because there are so many others already".
- josteink 7y ago
  It was a shit move of Lenovo, but yes, it affected Windows-users only, and after public outcry they immediately reversed and removed it. Holding grudges about this in 2019 as a Linux-user seems very misguided, or worse, uninformed.
Jonnax 7y ago
The link you posted is about someone hacking Windows 3.1 into their own laptop's UEFI. There's no reason for Lenovo to put a DOS based operating system into their BIOS :/
Stratoscope 7y ago
Your second link is about someone who flashed their own copy of Windows 3.1 into the boot ROM of their own ThinkPad X200. Lenovo didn't put Windows 3.1 there, that user did. Your first link is about Lenovo's IdeaPad line. IdeaPad and ThinkPad could well be thought of as products from two different companies. Lenovo was already making laptops when they bought the ThinkPad line from IBM. Their own laptops evolved into the consumer oriented IdeaPad line, while ThinkPad remained the business oriented line. They're both part of Lenovo, but are largely separate teams with different business goals and philosophies. In particular, ThinkPads were never infested with any of the stuff you're talking about. Here is the original notice from Lenovo about this. No ThinkPads are listed: https://web.archive.org/web/20190303121854/https://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20190303121854/https://news.leno...
- paulcarroty 7y ago
  > They're both part of Lenovo, but are largely separate teams with different business goals and philosophies. Sounds like marketing fairy tale - one part of company is great, second is bad, but we should love both.
  - jamespo 7y ago
    Guess you don't run Intel either due to IME
  - oarsinsync 7y ago
    It's reasonably clear that this separation exists by looking at the hardware build quality too. The general consumer range of Lenovo laptops is absolute garbage. The biggest problem comes from people recommending Lenovo laptops, without stressing specifically that it's ThinkPads that are being recommended, and not any Lenovo laptop generally. If you've used either range of laptop extensively, it's very obvious that they're built to very different specs, with very different goals. There doesn't appear to be much (if any) cross team work going on there.
  - Stratoscope 7y ago
    > we should love both. I didn't say that, or anything like it. On the contrary, I was explaining the significant differences between Lenovo's consumer laptop group and the ThinkPad group. They may be under the same corporate umbrella, but they are very different from each other.
smittywerben 7y ago
If you're concerned with privacy, Ubuntu tracks you way more. Don't make this a false dichotomy.

lucb1e 7y ago

I was wondering what "crapware in BIOS" is, it turns out to be software in the UEFI/BIOS system that installs software in your Windows install. I doubt I'll be affected as a Linux user. And it's a little short sighted to go "they did something wrong in 2015 on Windows, let's just exclude one of the vendors shipping Linux because there are so many others already".

josteink 7y ago
It was a shit move of Lenovo, but yes, it affected Windows-users only, and after public outcry they immediately reversed and removed it. Holding grudges about this in 2019 as a Linux-user seems very misguided, or worse, uninformed.

Jonnax 7y ago

The link you posted is about someone hacking Windows 3.1 into their own laptop's UEFI. There's no reason for Lenovo to put a DOS based operating system into their BIOS :/

Stratoscope 7y ago

Your second link is about someone who flashed their own copy of Windows 3.1 into the boot ROM of their own ThinkPad X200. Lenovo didn't put Windows 3.1 there, that user did. Your first link is about Lenovo's IdeaPad line. IdeaPad and ThinkPad could well be thought of as products from two different companies. Lenovo was already making laptops when they bought the ThinkPad line from IBM. Their own laptops evolved into the consumer oriented IdeaPad line, while ThinkPad remained the business oriented line. They're both part of Lenovo, but are largely separate teams with different business goals and philosophies. In particular, ThinkPads were never infested with any of the stuff you're talking about. Here is the original notice from Lenovo about this. No ThinkPads are listed: https://web.archive.org/web/20190303121854/https://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20190303121854/https://news.leno...

paulcarroty 7y ago
> They're both part of Lenovo, but are largely separate teams with different business goals and philosophies. Sounds like marketing fairy tale - one part of company is great, second is bad, but we should love both.
- jamespo 7y ago
  Guess you don't run Intel either due to IME
- oarsinsync 7y ago
  It's reasonably clear that this separation exists by looking at the hardware build quality too. The general consumer range of Lenovo laptops is absolute garbage. The biggest problem comes from people recommending Lenovo laptops, without stressing specifically that it's ThinkPads that are being recommended, and not any Lenovo laptop generally. If you've used either range of laptop extensively, it's very obvious that they're built to very different specs, with very different goals. There doesn't appear to be much (if any) cross team work going on there.
- Stratoscope 7y ago
  > we should love both. I didn't say that, or anything like it. On the contrary, I was explaining the significant differences between Lenovo's consumer laptop group and the ThinkPad group. They may be under the same corporate umbrella, but they are very different from each other.

smittywerben 7y ago

If you're concerned with privacy, Ubuntu tracks you way more. Don't make this a false dichotomy.