After sobbing at a press conference about being victimized by bullies, QQ's leader then decided to gang up with every one of 360's competitors and then flatly deny service to any computer running 360 software. Finesse seems to be in short order in QQ's approach to its image.

All these ploys seem to be aimed at avoiding, rather than focusing on, the quality of the software itself. Tencent has addressed the issues, claiming that some of the denials of service were due to Trojan horses (a kind of virus) infecting the computers involved, but this was not the focus of their most spectacular efforts.

Of course, 360 has not been particularly tactical in its public relation efforts either. From the beginning of this tiff, they have given QQ very few chances to bow out gracefully and save face.

While they originally targeted other programs with the privacy software, they eventually dropped the pretense, and added a feature directly aimed at QQ software. The rhetoric they have used in the past month has become increasingly accusatory in response to Tencent's various antics, at one point even threatening legal action.

Right or wrong, this type of action is only going to escalate any situation where someone is pointing fingers. Add on that 360's call for a three-day boycott of QQ, and they begin to seem a bit naive. There are plenty of businesses that rely on QQ for day-to-day operation every bit as much as they rely on their anti-virus programs.

When the dust settles, perhaps the most interesting development of this will be the role that the government decides to play.

If QQ was doing what 360 claims it was, then not only issues of privacy, but also of affecting computer performance, are at stake. Similarly, 360 targeting QQ directly raises questions about how software interacts and when it goes over the line in focusing on other legal software.

Heavily legislated privacy has caused many of these issues to come to a head in places like the US, where QQ's actions would have crossed the line.

However, all too often, older unrelated laws are made to fit inappropriately to new technologies.

While it seems very unlikely that Tencent and 360 will be able to find an amicable solution between themselves, a new opportunity for creating a regulatory body capable of addressing emerging technologies has now presented itself. Let's see if the relevant authorities are capable of taking a firm hand with these two errant firms.

The author is a computer consultant in Beijing. viewpoint@globaltimes.com.cn