【英语科技】360与QQ相争 微软得利？

The public battle between Chinese Internet giant Tencent and antivirus software company Qihoo 360, referred to by some as 'small gang' (Qihoo 360) vs. 'mafia' (Tencent), has led to a spike in new users for other firms, including one of Tencent's chief rivals, Microsoft.

New user signups in China for Microsoft's MSN Messenger, a competitor to Tencent's leading QQ instant-messaging service, have gone 'from tens of thousands normally to millions' per day since a flare-up between the two Chinese companies began, a person familiar with the situation said.

The conflict, which appears to have ignited two months ago when antivirus software company Qihoo 360 alleged that Tencent's QQ was scanning the private data of its users and released software claiming to block plug-ins that could cause such privacy leaks. Tencent denied the allegations, then discontinued its services to QQ users who were also using Qihoo 360's software. Qihoo 360 responded by encouraging users to discontinue use of QQ.

The spike in MSN users shows that at least some users have taken that request to heart. But while analysts say the incident may push some users to competing services, Zhang Yanan, analyst for Zero2IPO, said the incident is unlikely to turn a significant portion of users against Tencent, which has a loyal following of hundreds of millions of people.

Tencent 'really did a poor job in managing this public relations crisis' and the incident might 'change QQ users' view toward the company from trust to emotional resistance,' Zhang said. But, he added, 'I can't see the possibility that a large number of users are going to abandon the service.'

Still, criticisms of the two companies continue to spread, despite reportsby state-run media that Tencent and Qihoo have moved to make their services compatible again. Thousands of users have signed online petitions ( in Chinese) saying the companies' actions disregarded the needs of users, or requesting that China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce launch an anti-monopoly investigation into Tencent's business practices.

'It's possible that users might convert to another IM service some day â ¦ but from my point of view, it's not going to happen very soon,' Zhang said. 'For the short term, I don't think this incident is going to change the current market structure.'

中国互联网巨头腾讯和杀毒软件企业奇虎360之间的公开冲突被一些人称为“小帮派”（奇虎360）和“龙头老大”（腾讯）之争，这已使包括腾讯主要竞争对手之一微软在内的其他企业新用户大增。

Zuma Press拍摄于中国重庆的一张照片，中国的互联网战争使微软收益。一位知情人士说，腾讯和奇虎360开始爆发冲突以来，微软MSN Messenger中国新用户的日注册量从通常的好几万升至几百万。微软MSN Messenger是腾讯QQ即时通讯服务的竞争对手。

这场冲突似乎在两个月前就开始了，当时杀毒软件公司奇虎360指责腾讯QQ对其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。腾讯否认了上述指责，此后停止向正在使用奇虎360软件的QQ用户提供服务。奇虎360则鼓励用户停止使用QQ，以此作为回应。

MSN用户猛增显示，至少一些用户将上述要求当真了。尽管分析师说，这一事件可能使一些用户将服务进行对比，但清科集团分析师张亚男说，这一事件不太可能使大量用户弃用腾讯，该公司拥有数亿名忠实拥趸。

张亚男说，腾讯在公关危机中确实做得很糟糕，这一事件可能将使QQ用户对公司的看法从相信转变为情感上的抵制。但他补充说，我预测大量用户可能不会弃用QQ。

但对这两家公司的批评之声持续蔓延，尽管官方媒体报导说，腾讯和奇虎已使他们的服务再次互相兼容。数千位用户在网上签署了请愿书，指这两家公司的行为无视用户需求，或是要求中国国家工商行政管理总局对腾讯的商业操作进行反垄断调查。

张亚男说，有一天用户可能转而使用其他即时通讯服务，……但依我看来，不会很快发生这样的情况。短期来说，我认为这一事件不会改变目前的市场结构。