IBM's Lou Gerstner was be-knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
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Lenovo kills off auto updater for Thinkpads
LENOVO HAS SPARKED ANGRY REACTIONS from some of its users by discontinuing the Think Vantage System Update which until now had kept ThinkPad system software automatically up to date.
No announcement has made about the move as far as we can tell, but a reader has pointed us to a web page which says: "Lenovo is pursuing alternative solutions for system updates and future offerings will be communicated through the new Lenovo Message Center Plus."
Until that happens, disgruntled users will be expected to keep their laptops up to date manually using the support site's downloads and drivers section.
This may not seem like to much of a hardship to your average INQaholic, but the prospect of identifying, locating and installing system updates, bug fixes and new drivers will see some less switched-on Lenovo punters gnashing and wailing in frustration.
One member of this INQ hack's immediate family, for example, once decided that he would solve his laptop's manifold problems by doing a clean install of Vista, which is all well and good in most cases. But unfortunatley ThinkPads have a number of proprietory hardware buttons not covered by the standard Windows drivers, and we dread to think how long it would have taken us to put things back the way they should be without the gentle nudges of the TVSU software.
And we're not alone. Lenovo's forums are awash with comments from disgruntled Lenovo users who, although they are quite happy to keep their own computers refreshed with all the digital updatery required, state quite clearly that they will no longer be recommending Lenovo Laptops to their less savvy brethren.
Michael is a case in point, saying "I personally won't have any problems with the elimination of TVSU, but I think that TVSU has been a distinguishing feature of IBM and later Lenovo products for a long time, it adds considerable value to the computer and I don't think it is Lenovo's long-term best interest to eliminate it.
"One of the reasons I have always told family members (who are not computer enthusiasts) to buy Lenovo products is because they 'maintain themselves' via TVSU."
Another anonymous user says, "System update is the only one thing made me buy my Thinkpad. Now, with Lenovo [deciding] to remove this valuable service, I can't recommend Any Lenovo products for my company or my clients."
The general feeling seems to be that the system update software was a significant (if not vital) component of Lenovo's notebooks and a real boon to its users, and to dump the service in what seems like a cost-cutting exercise will drive many users – and more importantly those who have recommended its products to others because of their ease of use – elsewhere. µ
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For those of you who think this isn't a big problem you must have alot of time on your hand to update multiple computers manually. Congratulations! I don't have that time... unless TVSU comes back I will go alternative.
Call Lenovo and complain about this till they do something...
Sign the petition: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/TVSU
I'm working with and promoting ThinkPads since many years.
At our university the central place for buying Notebooks is only purchasing TPs because of this.
The man that is downgrading all the new ones to windows XP... is me. Because there are normally only batches of ONE... there is no way to automation it because of the variations of the hardware inside.
The last ones I did... lasted me about 3 or even more hours extra of manual work than before with system-updater.
So... now I'm on the hunt for a new system.
If Lenovo isn't turning... there will be less to even none new TPs in our House.
That's all I can say.
Sad greetings
They are not killing ThinkVantage. They are killing the ThinkVantage System Update. The ThinkVantage Productivity Center will be still there.
But I agree, installing all the drivers is some work. I installed Win7 7057 32bit on my X300. Had to install all the drivers manually as the updater refused to do that. Even got the hotkeys working working and the ThinkVantage button light hehe. Onscreen displays work too, except for the progress bar for screen brightness.
You just enter your product number on the Lenovo site and you will get just the right drivers for your Lenovo system.
You can even subscribe to an RSS feed that lets you monitor new releases for your particular Lenovo system (although the feeds are not per exact product number rather per model.
Ok, it is not fully automatic, but installing Lenovo updates by hand is really as simply as clicking NEXT NEXT FINISH. Compare that to some other manufacturers processes, I find it very very easy.
I do realize many people might not like this way of doing things, what I am trying to say it is not the end of the world :)
Part of the Think selling point is the ThinkVantage. And in some promotion, they actually make "ThinkVantage" a selling point for the Thinkpads. If ThinkVantage is no longer present, I think we should ask for our money back (atleast part of it).
By the way, Thinkpads without ThinkVantage, will make no different from Dell and the others...
Updates to the video driver have added a new feature. When running off battery the screen goes to sleep at random and you have to send the notebook to sleep and wake it up again to get your screen back.
Updates to the power management mean that the battery meter vanishes at random and is often inaccurate when displayed. Software can't always figure out wether the notebook is running from mains or battery. (ie you have to unplug the power connector and plug it in again to run some kinds of software like defrag.)
I have an IBM thinkbad aka lenovo r60e
The message I get is that something new is coming in may and I am supposed to login then at a new website.
When it was announced that Lenovo would be taking on the entire support of the Thinkpad line (instead of just building them), many, including myself, feared the demise of a wonderful line...
For a while I almost felt guilty for doubting their commitment, now I'm starting to feel justified.
There are 3 things that keep me with Thinkpads, guess what... One down, 2 to go.
If, as they say, they are going to replace SU with a new all singing, all dancing system, why don't they wait until the new system exists before killing the old one? Hmmm... Sounds like common sense (and good business practise) to me.
The issue is with keeping up to date and getting much needed patches. Yes, the initial drivers are ok but with many OS and driver iterations changing over time, how does your system restore keep them up to date??
I sell a few hundred Lenovos a year to clients both for home use and for businesses. I also sell thousands of used IBM/Lenovo laptops and desktops each year, and I have not once EVER had a customer ask me if they have the ThinkVantage System Updater.
I agree if you go to wipe a system from scratch and try to load all the drivers in manually, it can be a huge bitch. BUT, at the same time, the system does come with a recovery partition, and also a recovery disk maker, so unless someone chooses not to make the disks, and also somehow destroys their recovery partition, this is not a huge deal.
And yes, before people chirp, there is the issue of failed HDD's, but Lenovo will give you free recovery disks if your drive fails under warranty. Even if it is not under warranty, I've known many customers to get free disks, and even if they do have to pay it's usually $50 here in Canada.
Yes, nobody wants to pay that $50, but then again, when you can make your own disks and choose not to, well, then you have to pay $50 for your laziness.
If Lenovo doesn't want to manage it anymore, why not let the community manage it? If there's autopatcher for windows, I don't see why there can't be one specifically for Thinkpads. I'm sure there are some people more than willing to volunteer. :D