Helen Deng

IT was a difficult choice for Chinese netizens. On Nov. 3, about 600 million users of QQ, the popular instant messaging service, were told to remove 360, a free anti-virus software, from their computers. Otherwise QQ would stop functioning on their computers.

Thus the 2-month-long war between Tencent, the owner of QQ, and 360, the most popular free anti-virus software run by Qihoo, climaxed. Millions of innocent netizens were forced to take sides in the largest battle in the history of the Internet in China.

Qihoo 360 claimed that QQ software was scanning data on its users’ computers, and recently released a tool that it said would block the moves and protect users’ privacy. Tencent, meanwhile, took Qihoo to court for “unfair competition” and, impatient for a court hearing, told its users to choose between QQ and 360.

With no clear answer as to who is the innocent party, netizens who use both products are caught in a bind, with online polls showing that some chose to uninstall QQ first, while a smaller number trashed 360.

Both parties claim they tried to protect users’ interests in the bitter battle. But even users who are not familiar with technology could see that it’s not a war about customers’ rights — rather, it’s a war for the two companies’ own interests.

No surprise that both companies have been hit by fallout from the dispute, although online polls suggest Tencent is taking more of the blame. Of 423,000 who took part in a 163.com survey, 66 percent voted to remove Tencent’s software, while 34 percent dumped Qihoo 360. In a sina.com poll, 53.8 percent voted against QQ and 24.2 percent against 360.

If they had predicted such a result, would Tencent and 360 have chosen to avoid the war, or at least, avoid bringing customers into the war? The answer is probably no. This is because, for Qihoo, Tencent is threatening its very lifeline. With its large QQ user base, Tencent could easily take a dominant market share from 360. And Tencent is too confident of its user loyalty to be afraid of losing them, because there is no easy substitute for QQ in China.

The two parties seem to have reconciled under intervention from the government. Tencent promised not to stop running QQ on computers that installed 360. Qihoo recalled its tool that it said would block QQ from scanning users’ computers, a move Tencent said was aimed at preventing users’ accounts from being stolen.

But the battle still rages. In an interview last Tuesday, Ma Huateng, chairman of Tencent, said “the threat (from 360) is still there.” Zhou Hongyi, chairman of Qihoo, soon responded that Ma did not want to reconcile and that the war was “far from over.”

And other IT companies were taking sides, proving a rule of the jungle: your enemy’s enemy is your friend.

Baidu and Kingsoft, which announced that their products would not be compatible with 360, had rows with 360 before the 360-QQ battle. Qihoo 360 had allegedly blocked Baidu plug-in tools. Kingsoft is a rival of 360 and, according to Ma, 360 forced users to choose between it and Kingsoft — the exact conduct that Tencent is being criticized for.

Sohu sided with Qihoo in the battle, because it competes with Tencent for portal service. Online gaming, the most profitable part of Tencent’s business, happens to be the main business of another Qihoo supporter, SNDA.

The finger pointings revealed unethical tactics and many other problems that are otherwise unknown to people outside the industry. These problems undermine creativity and damage users’ confidence in domestic Internet providers.

And there’s the privacy issue, the point where all the quarrels started.

To end the dispute between QQ and 360, the most convincing way would be to answer the question: Did Tencent and Qihoo spy on users’ privacy? However, the regulators have not indicated any intention of answering the question. So even if Tencent and Qihoo made their products compatible, Internet users would hardly feel any safer.

The corporate wars also exposed the true color of Chinese Internet business, and the weakness of the regulators and competition laws.

The good news is that consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of their rights. Eventually, they will choose honest companies and dump those who abuse their own status as industry leaders. Ultimately, the choice of a certain product lies with the customers.

(The author is a Shenzhen Daily reporter.)