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Lenovo CTO: We’re Working to Wipe Superfish App Off of PCs

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Re: Lenovo CTO: We’re Working to Wipe Superfish App Off of PCs

#11

Post by 0x0 »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #7
packetized wrote: post #4

"We’re not trying to get into an argument with the security guys. They’re dealing with theoretical concerns." - Peter Hortensius I'd say that someone having cracked out the password for the private key is a bit more than a 'theoretical' concern. This might be the most tone-deaf handling of a potential PR disaster so far this year.

This is cluebat level of ignorance. I want to apply the "don't ascribe to malice what can adequately be explained by ignorance" maxim, but I'm having trouble with the "adequately" here. Either they managed to live under a rock and completely ignore everything related to the Snowden revelations, or they're willfully dismissing it. Such a pity, I was looking forward to getting an X1...

Still trying to wipe it under carpet when the problems obviously are far from "theoretical concerns" isn't really reflecting well on Lenovo's image.

It's like the opposite of damage control.

Re: Lenovo CTO: We’re Working to Wipe Superfish App Off of PCs

#13

Post by rodgerd »

packetized wrote: post #4

"We’re not trying to get into an argument with the security guys. They’re dealing with theoretical concerns." - Peter Hortensius I'd say that someone having cracked out the password for the private key is a bit more than a 'theoretical' concern. This might be the most tone-deaf handling of a potential PR disaster so far this year.

> This might be the most tone-deaf handling of a potential PR disaster so far this year.

It's appealing to a common and sucessful strategy of dismissing the concerns of experts as the irrelevant waffling of a bunch of eggheads disconnected from reality. Lenovo are hoping their user base will pop "security researchers" in the same bucket as beachfront property owning SUV drivers place "climate scientists".

Re: Lenovo CTO: We’re Working to Wipe Superfish App Off of PCs

#14

Post by freehunter »

vinhboy wrote: post #6

> Hortensius: In general, we get pretty good feedback from users on what software we pre-install on computers. LOL. Yes sir! The internet is filled with people happy about bloatware... I seriously wonder how much money they make off these bloatware providers to risk pissing off customers and devalue their brand. It can't be that much can it?

The weird part is, I've bought three Lenovos of my own and never had a problem with their preinstalled software. Some of it, like the ThiknVantage suite, can even be useful. Maybe it's because I buy from the Thinkpad line? Do they install less crap on Thinkpads than on IdeaPads or other laptops?

Re: Lenovo CTO: We’re Working to Wipe Superfish App Off of PCs

#15

Post by wvenable »

vivivi wrote: post #5

I wouldn't trust this company anymore. Bye Lenovo.

Nearly every laptop is preloaded with crapware. Lenovo might have (briefly even) picked one of worst examples of it but I'm sure there are (or will be) examples of this from other manufacturers that has yet to be discovered.

It might now be the case going forward that Lenovo will be a better choice. They've been burned.

Re: Lenovo CTO: We’re Working to Wipe Superfish App Off of PCs

#16

Post by woodman »

Animats wrote: post #10

Raise hell. If you have one of these machines, file a complaint with the FBI. At the very least, fill out their form: https://complaint.ic3.gov/default.aspx

While I am all for giving Lenovo hell, I'd highly recommend that people avoid voluntary interaction with US "law enforcement". They aren't really on your side, and this has been demonstrated more than once.

Re: Lenovo CTO: We’re Working to Wipe Superfish App Off of PCs

#17

Post by wvenable »

I'm aware that Microsoft is legally limited from restricting what vendors can pre-load into Windows but they really should provide a technical solution. For example an operating system option to revert to absolute stock. This would necessarily be different from reinstalling from recovery (which also reinstalls the crapware).

Re: Lenovo CTO: We’re Working to Wipe Superfish App Off of PCs

#18

Post by jjoonathan »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #7
packetized wrote: post #4

"We’re not trying to get into an argument with the security guys. They’re dealing with theoretical concerns." - Peter Hortensius I'd say that someone having cracked out the password for the private key is a bit more than a 'theoretical' concern. This might be the most tone-deaf handling of a potential PR disaster so far this year.

This is cluebat level of ignorance. I want to apply the "don't ascribe to malice what can adequately be explained by ignorance" maxim, but I'm having trouble with the "adequately" here. Either they managed to live under a rock and completely ignore everything related to the Snowden revelations, or they're willfully dismissing it. Such a pity, I was looking forward to getting an X1...

The price of "don't ascribe to malice" is that it's trivial to exploit. The most incompetent PR department in the world can have a strict adherent on a leash and barking to their tune inside of 5 minutes.

Courts of law have a good reason to hold high standards of evidence. For everyone else it's just an excuse for laziness. Not that I'm any better, I just don't insist on rationalizing it :-)

Re: Lenovo CTO: We’re Working to Wipe Superfish App Off of PCs

#19

Post by skymt »

Hortensius says Lenovo failed in due diligence. How, exactly? The two reasons people are upset about Superfish are that it breaks web security and injects ads into pages. Hortensius doesn't believe the former, and the latter is the entire purpose of the software. The only failure he could mean, taking him at his word, is in not anticipating the backlash, because as he describes it Superfish works as intended.

Re: Lenovo CTO: We’re Working to Wipe Superfish App Off of PCs

#20

Post by skymt »

wvenable wrote: post #17

I'm aware that Microsoft is legally limited from restricting what vendors can pre-load into Windows but they really should provide a technical solution. For example an operating system option to revert to absolute stock. This would necessarily be different from reinstalling from recovery (which also reinstalls the crapware).

Microsoft offers this tool to create a clean Windows install disc: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-re...
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