【英语科技】QQ与360之争是双输？

A battle over alleged unfair business practices between Tencent, operator of the popular instant-messaging software QQ, and Qihoo 360, China's biggest antivirus service provider, escalated this week when Tencent  stopped service to QQ  users whose computers are installed with  Qihoo 360's software.

Users are complaining in online forums and microblogs that the companies' conflict, one of the most recent and extreme examples of how competition between companies in China can sometimes snowball into public mudslinging, is now affecting innocent bystanders, and are calling the incident 'small gang vs. mafia,' with Tencent, one of the world's largest Internet companies by market capitalization, earning the latter, more powerful label.

The conflict appears to have started two months ago when Qihoo 360, which has 300 million users, alleged that QQ was scanning the private data of its more than 600 million users and released software claiming to block plug-ins that could cause such privacy leaks. Tencent denied the allegations and sued Qihoo, according to state-run newspaper Guangzhou Daily, which reported yesterday that a Beijing district court accepted the case.

It's unclear what prompted Qihoo to target Tencent, and both companies declined to answer more questions on the issue.

Meanwhile, social networking site Renren.com has r ushed out a patch program--named QQ Quarrel Interpose--for web users to downloadso they can still run QQ and 360's anti-virus software on the same computer.

In a statement sent to users Wednesday, Tencent said 'Dear QQ users, this email is to inform you that we've just made a very difficult decision. Until Qihoo 360 removes the tag-on service and malicious slander against QQ software, we have decided to stop running QQ software on computers that have installed the 360 software. We are fully aware of the inconvenience this may cause you, and we sincerely apologize for it.' Analysts say it's hard to estimate how many users use software from both companies, but given their popularity, the number could be in the millions.

An attempt by The Wall Street Journal to run QQ on computers with 360 products Wednesday night resulted in a window reading: '360 malware damages the safe operation of QQ, and therefore threatens the safety of QQ accounts. We urge you to uninstall all 360 products before normally running QQ.'

Beijing-based Qihoo 360 first responded to the announcement by suggesting that QQ users transfer to a browser-based instant-messaging client through which they can log in to their QQ accounts without installing any software. But Tencent then suspended its browser-based QQ Â service , prompting Qihoo 360 Â to release an open letter calling on web users to 'stop using QQ for three days and switching to other instant messaging tools' as a resistance against Tencent.

Though online polls are hardly a scientific measurement of public opinion, one poll on popular Internet portal 163.com suggests Tencent may be taking a hit in this publicity battle. Of 423,000 respondents who were asked whether they would remove Tencent or Qihoo 360's software, 66% voted to remove Tencent's software, while 34% chose Qihoo 360. As of Thursday afternoon, 7,200 people signed a petition saying'In this vicious war, we general users are the innocent ones! Tencent is the probable winner, but what the company has done is wantonly trample on users' right to freely use the Internet.'

Meanwhile, industry analysts say the incident is developing into a lose-lose situation.

'Both firms claim users supreme, but they are actually doing harm to the interests of users,' said Yu Yang, head of Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. 'No products are indispensable, and any kind of customer hijacking is simply lifting a rock only to drop it on their own feet.'

Several Chinese government departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Public Security, have interfered in the dispute between the two companies, Qihoo 360 executives said last night, according to several Chinese-language media outlets, but a resolution has yet to be reached.

广受欢迎的即时讯息软件QQ的运营商腾讯公司与中国最大的杀毒服务提供商奇虎360之间围绕据称是不公平企业行为的战争本周出现了升级，腾讯已停止为安装了奇虎360软件的电脑提供QQ服务。

ZUMApress使用者在网络论坛和微博中抱怨说，这两家公司间的冲突如今已经影响到无辜的局外人，他们将这一事件称为“小帮派和龙头老大之争”，而市值在全球互联网企业中位列前茅的腾讯就是这张争斗中的“龙头老大”。腾讯与360之争就是反映出中国企业间的竞争有时如何越闹越大、直到演变为公开给对方抹黑的最近也是最极端的例子之一。

这场冲突似乎在两个月前就开始了，当时拥有3亿用户的奇虎360指责QQ对其逾6亿用户的个人数据进行扫描，并发布了一款软件，据称可以对引起此类隐私泄露的插件起到阻止作用。据官方媒体《广州日报》报道，腾讯否认了上述指控，并对奇虎提起了诉讼，该报昨日说北京的一家法院已经受理了此案。

还不清楚是什么促使奇虎瞄准了腾讯，两家公司都拒绝回答有关此事的更多问题。

与此同时，社交网站人人网立刻推出了一个名为QQ劝架的补丁软件，使用者下载该软件后便可以继续在同一台电脑上运行QQ和360的杀毒软件。

腾讯在周三发表的致用户声明中说，“亲爱的QQ用户，当您看到这封信的时候，我们刚刚作出了一个非常艰难的决定。在360公司停止对QQ进行外挂侵犯和恶意诋毁之前，我们决定将在装有360软件的电脑上停止运行QQ软件。我们深知这样会给您造成一定的不便，我们诚恳地向您致歉。”分析师说，很难估算有多少用户在使用这两家公司的软件，但考虑到它们的普及程度，这一数字可能在数百万。

周三夜间《华尔街日报》记者在装载360产品的电脑上尝试运行QQ，结果弹出一个窗口，上面写着：“因您电脑中的360软件对QQ的多项功能进行破坏，严重影响QQ软件的安全和正常运行。……请您马上卸载360软件后再重新启动QQ。“

对此，北京的奇虎360首先是建议QQ用户换用一个在线即时通信客户端，在不安装任何软件的情况下进入自己的QQ账户。但腾讯随即暂停在线QQ服务，于是奇虎360发表公开信，呼吁网民“停用QQ三天”，用“其他聊天工具代替”，以此抵制腾讯。

在线调查很难说是一种科学的舆论量度办法，但门户网站网易(163.com)上面的一项调查说明，腾讯在这场公关战役中可能是承受了损失。被问到是卸载腾讯还是360的软件时，42.3万受调查者有66%投票说要卸载腾讯软件，34%选择御载360。截至周四下午，有7,200人参加一个网上请愿活动，活动页面上写着“这场恶战中，数以亿计的网民成了替罪羊，这是对网民互联网自由使用权的肆意践踏”。

而行业分析人士说，事件正在演变成一个双输格局。

北京研究公司易观国际(Analysys International)负责人于扬说，两家公司都宣称用户至上，但它们实际上却是在损害用户利益。没有哪种产品是必不可少的，以任何形式挟持客户都是搬起石头砸自己的脚。

据多家中文媒体报道，奇虎360高管昨晚说，已经有包括工信部、公安部在内的几家政府部门介入两家公司之间的争端，但还没有达成解决方案。