Lenovo Promises No More Bloatware Starting with Windows 10

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Moving on from Superfish

What a month it's been for Lenovo, the world's top supplier of PCs and generally a well liked company. The OEM put both of those traits at risk by pre-loading adware onto its consumer laptops and desktops, adware that was later discovered to be a serious security threat. We might never know for sure how savvy Lenovo was to the software's nefarious methods of serving up ads, but in the wake of it all, there have been apologies, explanations, a software tool to remove Superfish, a class action lawsuit, and now a promise -- Lenovo wants to be the leader clean PCs.
In yet another statement, Lenovo again waxed remorse for the Superfish situation. This time, however, the OEM also said it was offering its customers affected by the issue a free 6-month subscription to McAfee LiveSafe service, or a 6-month extension to existing subscribers. More details will be made available within the next week, but McAfee? Yeah, that's not going to smooth things over.
What might, however, is Lenovo's promise to stop installing bloatware and only including software that's necessary for included hardware, like a webcam application.
"The events of last week reinforce the principle that customer experience, security and privacy must be our top priorities," Lenovo said in a statement. "With this in mind, we will significantly reduce preloaded applications. Our goal is clear: To become the leader in providing cleaner, safer PCs.
"We are starting immediately, and by the time we launch our Windows 10 products, our standard image will only include the operating system and related software, software required to make hardware work well (for example, when we include unique hardware in our devices, like a 3D camera), security software and Lenovo applications. This should eliminate what our industry calls 'adware' and 'bloatware.' For some countries, certain applications customarily expected by users will also be included."
The bolded text for emphasis was done by Lenovo to drive the point home. In addition to eliminating crapware, Lenovo said it will begin posting information about any and all software that comes preloaded on its machines and clearly explain what each one does.
"We view these actions as a starting point. We believe that these steps will make our technology better, safer, and more secure," Lenovo said.
This is all well and good by Lenovo, and now it needs to follow through. It will be critical for the company to avoid another situation like this, not just because of the "fool me once" saying, but also because it's flat out saying this won't happen again.
The good news for Lenovo is that it has an opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade. What started off as a sour situation could take a sweet turn of events, if in fact Lenovo follows through and becomes a leader in clean PCs. It will have competition, of course, mainly from boutique vendors like Maingear that tout zero bloatware. Where Lenovo has the advantage is in price, assuming it can continue to keep costs down without the aid of third-party software.
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