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Microsoft foils Xbox hackers with new Config
randomizer9 writes was among several readers who noted that Microsoft has changed the configs on the XBox and really messed up the hackers who have been trying to coax the box into being divx players, linux boxes, microwave ovens, white noise generators and so on. Kinda doubt the conspiracy angle, but it certainly is annoying.
Hey MS...do you even remeber that your fortunes are directly linked to the fact that your software runs on the worlds most cutomizable and hackable(in the good sense) hardware platform...hell you console is just a hack of that hardware platform....
get with the program who cares if people hack the XBox...stop pissing and moaning....perhaps you have the next big thing on your hands if you just let people play with it alittle.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
I really don't like the way the word "security" is being used to mean "preventing the owner of the system from using it as he sees fit."
In my mind security means only letting the owner use the system as he sees fit.
-Peter
What the "hackers" really need to do is make use of undocumented features in ways that every home user will want to use. Then Microsoft wouldn't dare remove them -- I remember this happening several times in the old days of the Palm Pilot (Remember all those *Hack programs?)
"changed the internal configuration " ??? What's next? A new improved graphics engine? A faster processor? More memory? It's turning into a PC!
I want my karma, and I want it now!
I noticed that this modification by M$ also disables the fan on the nVidia graphics card in the XBox.
Now, I'm not sure which card it is, but most modern nVidia cards run pretty hot, and need cooling, so either, these cards are going to have to be underclocked, and so hit performance, or they're going to start overheating, and the machines crashing.
Won't that be unusual, Windows 'powered' machines dieing because of a hardware failure...
Listening for the sound of the coming rain...
Could the X-Box be a prototype for Palladium/DRM-secure hardware?
... enough of conspiracy theories for one day...
They release a product that they consider secure(the v1.0 X-Box), let the public pry away at it for a while, knowing the hacking consoles(especially with one as tasty as the X-Box) is an already established industry.
Then, once it is hacked to a reasonable level, they revise the hardware to be more secure...
Shake well, repeat...
Basically, MS gets a free hacking team to test (fanatically) their security systems... The only negative point is that some of the hackers release how they did it to the public.
All of the knowledge/experience that they gain from this security cycle will go directly into their security model for DRM "secure" PC hardware...
Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but copyright will always protect me.
I'm convinced that Microsoft management deliberately avoids placing architecture discipline on developers. They understand that it is in Microsoft's interest for all of their API's to be moving targets. As long as they remain reasonably dominant, this benefits them in many ways.
The organizations that choose to go with Microsoft find that basically all of their time is spent running to keep up with the latest (and/or running to stay in the same place). You can't just develop for a Microsoft environment and forget it. You pay X work-years in development time, but you then (subscription model, anyone?) have to pay, oh, 0.3X work-years PER YEAR in maintenance time just to keep up with things that get broken by new service packs, new releases, etc.
If you listen to people who live in the Microsoft-dominated world, you constantly hear them using phrases like "PORTING our software from Windows 2000 to Windows XP." And this constant "porting" doesn't leave them enough time to even THINK ABOUT supporting non-MS products.
Another benefit of this is that as the API's not only change but constantly become more complex, the work required to keep up with them gradually becomes too much for small companies to keep up with, which helps Microsoft keep control. More and more, the only players are companies that are large enough for Microsoft to be able to control them at the business-deal level.
The nice thing about all this is that nobody has to issue any smoking-gun memos. It's not NECESSARY to say in writing, or even verbally, "the job's not done 'till Lotus won't run." All they need to do is NOT tell their engineers to be scrupulous about backward compatibility and it all happens automatically.
I find it depressing that GNU/Linux hackers are paying Microsoft money to get XBoxen and port the OS to it. Now Microsoft has rendered their efforts futile. Guess what - their efforts were futile to begin with. Why not develop a good substitute for MS Exchange so corporate customers have a good reason to switch? Why not do ANYTHING rather than focus on a project that has no useful outcome, all the while pumping money into Microsoft with each XBox purchase? It would be equally useful to write Microsoft a check for the cost of an XBox and spend some time watching TV instead.
I feel bad for the game developers and companies...
it's bad enuff having to test the shit out of a console game to make sure there is NO way it can ever crash/freeze/break... but now you have to support different BIOS', hardware revs for chips potentially and who knows what else.
What happens when a loose QA procedure somewhere allows a game to slip out that runs fine on the "old" xboxs but crashes on the "new" xbox?
And what's this about no fan on the nvidia chip? they probably did a study and found that it takes exactly 15 months for chip to burn out with decreased cooling, which puts them 3 months outside warrantee. Either that or they're pulling that speedstep-wannabe clocking bullshit where it clocks down when it gets hot, which I'm sure will be great for gameplay on a console system where the hardware is normally supposed to be static!
Actually I don't agree with you. What MS is worried about is that people will buy XBox and then never buy anything else for it (from MS). XBox looks like a sweet deal because it is - it's sold cheaper than it can be made. The rub is that they make up the money on the games (after all how much does a game ACTUALLY cost to make?). This isn't a new idea (what MS didn't "innovate" this idea - well imagine that) it's called "Razer Blade" marketing.
If I were buying an XBox I'd put Linux on it and use it for something, (webserver, MP3 Jukebox, simple wp/email, whatever) I might even buy more than 1 - it's cheaper than buying something else. But then I'm not buying any games so MS is just making a loss. Microsoft is afraid of people like me (in present company I'm tempted to say people like us). And there is a lot of people like me, who don't want an XBox console, but are quite happy to pay less for a webserver or whatever.
Before all the MS weenies call me a hacker, or criminal and want to burn down my house - I'm not thinking about anything illegal, I'm just considering buying a product and tinkering with it for MY OWN USE. There's nothing wrong in that.
Of course I also understand MS want to stop me!
Xbox is probably containing the exact same technology as Palladium and this is testing ground for the PC version. Thus its of vital importance for MS to show that its unhackable to keep support from music/movie industry on palladium.
If it shows that Palladium is just another dongle and fail as DRM its going to dissapear.
HTTP/1.1 400
As for your conspiracy theory, there is a thing called passive cooling. There is another fan in the box, and if there is enough airflow through the case, it should be fine.
"What kind of chip you got in there, a Dorito?" - Weird Al Yankovic
on your point 2, DVD hardware manufacturers could not care less whether or not you chip your DVD player. They make back every cent and then some when they sell you the hardware. If Hollywood never sold a DVD it wouldn't matter, in the short term anyway. In the long term it would definitely be less of an incentive for people to buy DVD players now wouldn't it?
Anyway, my point is, console manufacturers count on games being sold. Sony does it, Nintendo does it, Sega used to do it and not Microsoft does it. This isn't some dirty little secret of the console industry nor it is some new conspiracy of Microsoft's. When you allow consoles to me modded you offer fewer reasons for the users to purchase the games and you wind up losing money. When you allow DVD players to be modded you don't lose anything at all.
Frankly, I don't blame Microsoft for doing it. All game companies have done it this way. The main issue is that they have a bigger plan for these set-top-boxes that doesn't just involve gaming. They want complete control of this closed box (like Apple).
And before anyone tells me that I am full of it, think about what this would mean for them. They are already in the position to do this... They just need to do it before it is too late. The X-Box was never intended to be only a gaming platform, and we all know that. Microsoft has other reasons for protecting this hardware.
It's my damn X-box. I payed money for it. It resides next to my TV. So why would they care if I put a mod chip in there to make it do something? Why can't I hack it and play with it. I paid my 200 + dollars for it. If they could make it where it works after spilling 2 + beers in it. Then I would be impressed. The point is that I spent my money to OWN this piece of crap, I'm going to mod the crap out of it if I want to. They can't stop me. They shouldn't even try.
Step 1. Write code. Step 2. ??? Step 3. Profit!