Simmering tensions between Qihoo 360 and Tencent broke into open war last week, as Tencent disabled its chat software on computers running 360 antivirus software. This move was the most aggressive yet in a serious of escalating attacks between the two companies that resembles nothing so much as a barnyard brawl. Microsoft appears to be the only winner of the fighting to date, with MSN messenger aquiring a number of users fed up with the behavior of both companies.

Just measured in terms of size, Qihoo 360 is the underdog here, the Chinese equivalent of Norton Antivirus with a userbase of only around 300 million machines throughout China. Tencent is one of the largest Internet companies in the world, and probably the cloest thing China has to Google. Want more information? Join Sinica regulars Jeremy Goldkorn, Gady Epstein, and Will Moss as they examine the fracas from the comfort of our studio. Kaiser Kuo also joins us with an audio postcard that fills in the back story of conflict that you won't read in the news. And finally, we are also joined this week by Malcolm Moore, correspondent for Britain's Daily Telegraph, who shares his thoughts on the significance of David Cameron's ongoing visit to Beijing.

New to Popup Chinese? Sinica is a regular podcast focusing on current affairs in China. If you enjoy the show, be sure to subscribe via RSS. You can do this either by creating an account on Popup Chinese and customizing your private feed, or opening iTunes and selecting the option "Subscribe to Podcast" from the Advanced menu. When prompted, copy the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica into the box. Those looking for a bit less commitment are also welcome to download this show as a standalone mp3 file.

 said on
November 12, 2010
Here are some links to source materials:

360 vs Baidu on ChinaHush, ESWN, Wall Street Journal and Danwei

David Cameron in China on Bloomberg, BBC, the Guardian, The Daily Telegraph

Plagues: The bubonic plague's Chinese origins and the over-use of antibiotics in China

 said on
November 12, 2010
gordon brown? time-warp :-)
 said on
November 13, 2010
@user15627,

Definitely a time-warp. Thanks for the catch. :)

--david
 said on
November 26, 2010
Apologies to all Sinica fans - we don't have a new episode for you today because of technical problems on our side. We will be releasing another edition of Film Friday a bit later this morning as soon as the audio is all in place. Thanks for understanding.

--david
 said on
November 27, 2010
Thanks for the links!
Mark Lesson Studied