It seems that the rush to NOT fix the Spectre vulnerability has spread to other companies besides Intel. I say that because Dell and HP are now saying not to install BIOS updates that solve this issue. First to Dell:
The Spectre and Meltdown mess continues with Dell now recommending their customers to not install the BIOS updates that are supposed to resolve the Spectre (Variant 2) vulnerabilities. These updates have been causing numerous problems for users including performance issues, boot issues, reboot issues, and general system stability. Due to this, Dell EMC has updated its knowledgebase article with a statement advising customers to not install the BIOS update and to potentially rollback to the previous BIOS if their computers are exhibiting “unpredictable system behavior”.
And in the case of HP, ZDNet reports that they too has issued a similar advisory. The computer manufacturer pulled its softpaqs BIOS updates with Intel’s patches from its website, and said it would be releasing a BIOS update with a previous version of Intel’s microcode on Thursday.
The bottom line is that Intel has to be embarrassed. Starting with the fact that the issue exists. Then to this clearly botched response. Not to mention that some have criticized the response on other fronts. Clearly Intel needs to hit the reset button and figure out how to right the ship quickly before this turns into more of a gong show than it already is.