Hp Mocks Rival Lenovo Over Spyware Scandal

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Hp Mocks Rival Lenovo Over Spyware Scandal
High horses are pretty hard to ride at the top of ivory towers
By Dave Neal

NEVER MADE A MISTAKE IN ITS LIFE COMPANY Hp has used the Superfish scandal that has hit rival Lenovo to present itself as a comedian and a provider that people can rely on.

It's a dangerous game. HP has poked its finger at Lenovo at a time when Lenovo could have done without the attention.

This has always been the way of schoolchildren and bullies businesses, and we very often see one glass house dweller throwing stones – in the form of tweets or marketing campaigns – at another. But it can backfire.

HP thinks it's onto a winner here. The firm cottoned on to the fact that Lenovo had a problem with something with a fish in its name, and turned its comedy bone up to 11.

This, and we will give you some time to get over it, mend your sides etc, linked to a blog in which HP presents itself as a paragon of security and makes Lenovo look like something of a rotter.

While HP's bloatware (it does not use that term) is handy, Lenovo's is not, it says, and HP has gone into perhaps unnecessary detail about the Lenovo problem and just how bad it is.

The only thing you should have to think of when someone says Superfish

We suspect that the reporting on the incident has been done to a capable standard enough already and wonder whether it is benevolence or schadenfreude that is behind HP's post.

"HP, like virtually every other major manufacturer on [sic] consumer laptops, does pre-install software to enhance customer experience, but there is a key difference between most preinstalled software and Superfish," HP said.

"Superfish exposes customers to security vulnerabilities, is not easily removable, and hides its code from everyday users.

"Also, unlike most pre-installed software, Superfish alters search results and cripples a web browser's ability to communicate securely."

The blog goes on, ultimately explaining that HP is a paragon of security virtue, and suggesting that HP, and presumably "virtually every other major manufacturer on [sic] consumer laptops", is a sounder hardware choice than Lenovo.

Lenovo has already done its PR work on this, explaining that it did not want to do any harm and is in the process of filleting Superfish from machines.

Lenovo is not the first firm to find itself in a negative spotlight, of course, and a wander back through our annals finds HP in the mucklight.

We didn't even have to go very far. Less than one year ago HP's laptops were presenting themselves as a fire hazard – ho ho ho – that could potentially cause a whole lot of hilarious damage.

Six million laptop cables were recalled to the HP mothership, and presumably dumped into a large bucket of sand.

"HP customers affected by this programme will be eligible to receive a replacement AC power cord for each verified, recalled AC power cord at no cost," said HP at that time.

"We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused. Your safety is our top priority."

Where was that waggish humour then?

[Author]

February 24, 2015 at 12:23 PM