McAfee sues Dixons Carphone in software dispute

[elsiegee40]

McAfee sues Dixons Carphone in software dispute - TechRadar

 

Dixons Carphone is being sued by security firm McAfee following claims that the former violated an exclusive software contract.

 

The high-street technology giant is facing a major payout after failing to honour a deal to promote McAfee's security offerings.

 

Instead, Dixons Carphone advertised rival offerings from Symantec after signing a separate deal with the company, as well as promoting its products as an add-on purchase.

 

According to the Sunday Times, the two parties signed a four-year deal back in 2017 that would see McAfee software highlighted in stores across the country.

 

The paper reported a company memo which saw Dixons tell staff to “ensure all McAfee anti-virus products are only displayed in the McAfee software bay and nowhere else.”

 

There had been reports that McAfee's products were incompatible with Microsoft's Windows 10S platform, which had been suspected as being behind the ban. However McAfee says that this should not have led to Dixons Carphone failing to support its services.

 

Following McAfee's protest, the High Court granted an interim injunction earlier this month requiring Dixons Carphone to continue promoting McAfee’s software, as well as paying £100,000 in costs.

 

Neither company has commented on the ruling, but Dixons Carphone has until the end of the week to submit its defence.

[elsiegee40]

Dixons hits back at McAfee's £30m antivirus sueball: Your AV didn't work on Windows 10S - Th Register

Brit retailer Dixons has lashed back at McAfee's £30m High Court broadside, saying it was entitled to promote rival antivirus (AV) tech from Symantec if McAfee's software wouldn't work on Windows 10S devices.

 

Not only was McAfee trying to punt AV onto devices it simply wouldn't run on, Dixons argued in legal filings seen by The Register, but it also suggested making Dixons' "Team Knowhow" staff manually install "numerous free apps (including Truekey and Web Advisor)" on customers' new hardware while it raced to build something that would work with Windows 10S.

 

This was "not viable", said Dixons. Although the two companies had been in talks since late 2018 about how "the lack of a McAfee Security Software product compatible with 10S" meant that Dixons' customers were "generally being denied the ability to purchase 10S products" from it, McAfee only managed to develop a working AV suite for Windows 10S by June 2019.

 

Despite both sides disputing the exact cutoff date, it was agreed that McAfee and Dixons wanted a viable product in stock and ready for its Back To School (BTS) Windows Laptop sale, planned to begin in August this year. Dixons claims the cutoff date was "March/April 2019, when final plans for the BTS period would be put in place", while McAfee said it delivered its "10S compatible product" on 20 June 2019.

 

"From January 2019 a number of new devices with 10S came on to the market and were being offered by DSG's competitors at very competitive prices because they were able to take full advantage of a subsidy offered by Microsoft to hardware manufacturers selling hardware running 10S," alleged Dixons.

 

McAfee flung its sueball at Dixons earlier this month, as first reported by the Sunday Times, after the British gadget souk stopped promoting its AV software for use with Windows 10S, a variant of the operating system that was originally targeted at educational establishments.

 

In its particulars of claim, McAfee stated that in the 12 months from June 2018, a full 40 per cent of its retail sales in the UK and Ireland came through Dixons, totalling £2.7m. It claimed a further £27.9m against Dixons in "lost sales and lost renewal fees" from "future gross revenue".

 

Windows 10S was demoted from a standalone OS to a mere "mode" last year. Its main feature is that it runs in a sort of kiosk mode, aimed at minimising the kind of chaos that results from bored schoolkids being forced to use a computer for educational purposes.

 

Dixons also said it expects Windows 10S laptops to make up 41.5 per cent of its mobile PC shipments during the "Windows Laptops Back to School" sale season, running between now and the end of October. That translates, as its lawyers explained, to shifting 120,000 units over the three-month period.

 

The case, before the Chancery Division of the High Court, continues.

[FishCustard]

Dixons also said it expects Windows 10S laptops to make up 41.5 per cent of its mobile PC shipments

 

I think this is the most surprising part of this whole saga - then again it doesn't really matter any more which "mode" you get as you can switch to "full-fat" Windows easily.

[localzuk]

Doesn't surprise me - people buy cheap devices a lot.

[FishCustard]

Sorry, I wasn't clear - my surprise is that so many devices are being sold with Windows 10 S mode as standard. I thought it was a bit of a flop and a non-entity.

[Steve21]

Sorry, I wasn't clear - my surprise is that so many devices are being sold with Windows 10 S mode as standard. I thought it was a bit of a flop and a non-entity.

 

Depends for what purpose, the idea of it being S by standard is it runs a lot smoother on cheap devices, which is the majority of items sold etc. Without giving general public the chance to install silly software/adaware and break them also makes them "seem" to run smoother/better

 

Steve

[hardtailstar]

Having bought my Dad a laptop from them recently and I was offered Symantec as a better alternative to Mcafee!

 

I said i'd purchase my own anti virus they got a bit snotty!

[Brimstone]

Having been "engaged" with DSG by Apple years ago when they decided to start selling Apple kit I wouldn't buy any computer from them or recommend PC World/Currys/Car Phone to anyone.

[admars]

I had a few Christmas jobs stacking shelves etc, and it was quite interesting (not just anti virus reps) but other reps coming in, to promote their stuff give out freebies. But interestingly sometimes they were just there to make sure the competitors stuff wasn't in a better position than their own.

 

I guess the Anti Virus is like leads - they make little profit on a TV, but huge % profit if they persuade someone to buy a £100 gold and diamond encrusted hdmi lead to improve signal, antivirus I guess is better profit margin than hardware.

 

reminds me of a tv program about Admiral and football kits how they became popular - back then deals were done in pubs, brown envelopes changing hands, one footballer forgot he had "signed" deals with 2 boot companies, so he wore a different manufacturer boot on each foot! Not sure they could do that now, but interesting DSG tried

[mikeprice]

Having bought my Dad a laptop from them recently and I was offered Symantec as a better alternative to Mcafee!

 

I said i'd purchase my own anti virus they got a bit snotty!

 

Yup - they do that - they also lie quite often

 

I have had several tell me that the free anti-virus things are useless and don;t stop ANY viruses

"There is a reasons that they are free you know"

total BS

 

I have known several IT techs that worked there at weekends to get extra money - all left because they were fed up with people telling them to lie - mostly about anti-virus products and warrenties

or in one case he was 'ask to leave' because he kept asking reps and trainers awkward questions

[elsiegee40]

This thread is about the spat between McAfee and Dixons not a general have a go at Dixons thread