Yesterday, we heard about how a serious issue with Eee Box PCs in Japan ended up being problematic enough for Asustek to issue a recall. The problem was a virus located on the system by default, which would copy itself to any attached drives – including portable storage plugged in via USB.

While the actual amount of machines deployed was pretty small, it's still bad PR for the company. They are trying to deflect some of that now, pointing the blame for the virus at an OEM based in China. According to Asustek, the virus was originally housed at a second-tier OEM that they used to manufacture the Eee Box units, and it was a problem with the OEM's QA that ultimately led to the virus being distributed. They also mentioned that the OEM might be dropped in the future, with work being sent to Foxconn instead.

They didn't mention the name of the OEM in question. Even if it was the fault of the OEM, Asustek is still ultimately responsible for what goes to market.