Re: [LUG] OT: Fwd: HP and Lenovo caught installing malware in the BIOS

[Simon Waters <simon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 2015-08-24 20:49, Simon Avery wrote:

On 24 August 2015 at 20:29, Martijn Grooten <martijn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Still, adding third party software isn't inherently bad.

True in itself - otherwise you'd just have a laptop with no OS and a very limited bios. But it's a sliding scale, with some manufacturers going way too far into the silly zone, and making software very hard to uninstall. (Certain windows anti virus springing to mind). This is carried through to extremes on smartphones, including android.

Apple also like to privilege their own apps in this regard both iOS and Mac OS X.

I've even heard serious folk muttering about legislation in this area, which I am fairly anti because it is nearly always a blunt instrument.

The more able consumers need to ask the question of vendors "how do I uninstall X?", or opt for products that value freedom, and make it very clear to vendors why you are buying the other product (Twitter has a use).

I agree bundling software, and trial versions, can be really useful. Although with the App store quickly finding and trying 3rd party apps is nearly as easy on Windows and Mac OS X as it was on Debian was in 2003.

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