On Friday afternoon I was typing away on my work computer when the most obnoxious message ever popped up:
The computer manufacturer had popped an ad up on my screen asking me if I wanted to buy some accessories. This is a horrific experience and I will personally make sure that I recommend to every person I meet that they never buy a Lenovo computer.
Why is this offensive? Well, there’s an implicit agreement between the computer manufacturer and the end user that the desktop is the ‘property’ of the end user. I would never buy a table if it randomly popped open and offered me a 10% off coupon for Ikea; why would Lenovo think the computer desktop is anything else?
The more nefarious underpinning is that why did Lenovo send me this message on Friday, June 19th at 2:30 pm? Have they been monitoring everything I’ve been doing and decided that this is the optimal time to suggest to me to buy? Should I be unsurprised if my computer starts to catastrophically fail over the next few weeks unless I buy a few accessories? The cynic in me thinks that some government of China security program misfired and instead of sending my data to Beijing, it offered me a discount instead.
This is the most egregious advertising invasion of privacy I’ve ever seen. Do not ever buy a Lenovo PC.