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Microsoft Talks Handhelds, Xbox Linux
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Canada.com interview with Xbox head honcho Robbie Bach, which shoots him some wide-ranging and perceptive questions about Microsoft's console strategy. Interesting answers include whether Microsoft wants to get into the handheld console market ("It's like starting a new business...we will focus on making the current Xbox successful."), and their views of Linux for Xbox ("..the numbers are not really that big. It's not a commercial as much as it is an intellectual property issue and we always pursue those.")
Anyone who is reading this thread keep in mind that Samir Gupta is a troll (check his history). He's made up just about every story in the book when it comes to where he's worked and what he knows.
Speaking of which, Mr. Gupta (doubt that's even your real name), care to let me know how a big, blue box that can't play DVD's represents "sentiments of small size?"
Why would I want a portable blue screen? I get enough of that at home. :)
As amusing as this is, your message just struck me that since I installed XP, I haven't seen the Blue Screen Of Death, except maybe once, and that's over the course of a couple of years with my computers at home and another 16 at the office.
Except for my crash-happy HP notebook. Right now, I'm still blaming HP for that.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
Now, it is my opinion that MS is kindly letting you know that you can do whatever you want to the hardware, and as long as you don't try to use your modified hardware to interface with unmoddified hardware, they won't bother you. If you alter the software, though, and attempt to use the altered Box on Live or some other connected service, MS is kindly letting you know that they reserve the right to come to your house and take your Xbox away.
Not that I think it's right, but what I think doesn't count for much in Redmond.
"Note And changes or modifications made on the system not expressly approved by the manufacturer could (emphasis mine) void the user's authority to operate the equipment."
Such language is commonplace in documentation for electronic devices because they have to meet government radio frequency emissions standards. In practice, the FCC or CRTC will care only if some device causes an actual interference problem.
"The software included in the Xbox Product is licensed to you, not sold."
Was this Xbox BIOS EULA presented to me before the sale of the Xbox hardware? If not, then it may not be enforceable under contract law in most U.S. states, and it is a sale of a copy under 17 USC 117 and foreign counterparts.
Granted: As long as you don't try to connect a modded Xbox console to Xbox Live service, you'll be OK.
Will I retire or break 10K?
"Lastly, I find it amusing that some people praise Win 2K/XP for its stability over previous versions of windows. Give me a break! Compared to Windows ME, Lizzie Borden would seem a paragon of stability. "
Well, to be fair, I have reason to praise Win2k. I've had 3 Win2k machines over the years I've used to do 3D rendering. I have not lost a project or a rendering to Windows instability. The only blue screens I've had happened when I first built my latest machine. For some reason, dual athlon + Sound Blaster Audigy + Winamp = crash. Stopped using Winamp, now it's working great. It's always up when I come in on Monday, even after a 'during the weekend' render.
The short story is that I've been able to rely on it on various machines (I use it at home too, mainly for gaming.) without BSODs or instabilities. I do have to reboot once every couple of weeks, though I think that's more of a result of having Outlook open for too long. It likes to take out explorer.
Perfect? Nope. But my opinion's based on beating up my machine pretty hard. Most of my company was running Win2k and my coworkers weren't having problems either. (I'm the Win2k guru there so I'm the one who gets to fix problems with those machines.)
I'm not just blindly praising 2k here, I've got many of hour supporting my appreciation of it.
"Derp de derp."
Nintendo's sales have picked up dramatically in the last 6 months, and you should really look at which systems the top 20 titles belong to and how many units were sold. Nintendo is doing fine and dandy. Xbox is sucking it up the worst of the bunch right now. Please check your numbers before posting fud. ::No invite for flames; I've got all 3 systems I just don't like seeing raw hype and biased opinions posted as fact.
1 Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker Nintendo GC 826,352
2 Pokemon Ruby Nintendo GBA 652,595
3 Pokemon Sapphire Nintendo GBA 585,098
4 Tenchu 3: Wrath of Heaven Activision PS2 164,282
5 The Getaway SCEA PS2 139,796
6 Def Jam Vendetta Electronic Arts PS2 135,162
http://www.the-magicbox.com/
from the looks of those numbers of units sold Nintendo has no problems with ideas or selling games.
"If I were bound by all laws everywhere I'm sure I would have committed a capital crime somewhere."
The Xbox-Linux download page has a "Cromwell BIOS" containing no proprietary code. Mod your Xbox console with Cromwell BIOS and boot Ed's Debian GNU/Linux port, and your Xbox is no longer running code copyrighted by Microsoft.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Check here...$15 for a barebones Socket 5 system, $4 for 64 megs of RAM, $1 for a 100-MHz Pentium. You can probably do better locally with prices for el-cheapo Realtek-based NICs (I bought some Intel 10/100 NICs from them a while back for $2 each, but they're not up on their website...they have 3Com 3C905s listed at $20 each). For a firewall, you don't really need a hard drive...but you probably have one gathering dust that you could put in there if you want. I'm fairly sure that's a good bit less than whatever an Xbox costs.
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
The linux modchips that you can currently get are 100% legal, due to the fact that they were developed without any microsoft software dev kits. Every other modchip, however, was developed with an Xbox SDK, making the software illegal. Also note that most of the software that you run along with those modchips is also developed with it, thus, illegal. Despite what you say about it being your right to import games and being able to play it on your xbox, you cant do that without a pirated chip. We can only hope that someone developed a homebrew bios that does run xbox software. This doesnt apply to ps2 or psx modchips though, they dont have any illegal code in them.
"wouldn't tying the software and hardware together create an antitrust issue?"
No. Apple.
Rules the OS, rules the hardware.
As for the X-Box, it's a console. Just having a x86 compatible chip in it doesn't make it a computer. What constitutes a computer is a device that comes with no OS installed and it conditioned so that one can be installed (i.e. it has a BIOS). X-box has a factory-installed OS, so it's a device rather than a PC, just like my 68000-based washing machine isn't an Atari ST.
It's been known since the GC came out that it can be made for around $90 a unit. That is why Nintendo still has PROFITS, while Microsoft has LOSSES. It is known that Microsoft is losing $150 per console sold. No one knows ANYTHING about the PS2.