Xbox Auto-Update Blocks Linux Usage

An anonymous reader writes "According to The Inquirer, Microsoft has used their Xbox Live Vole System to patch any Xboxes that access it....without asking their permission before installing the software. However, in this occurrence, the bug appears to be the 'dashboard bug' that allows Linux to be easily installed on an Xbox. Further, according to The Xbox Linux Project, users who do not have an Xbox Live account may find themselves being patched without permission as well. If a gamer tries to access any part of a game that uses Xbox Live, the console can 'phone home' and install the patches anyway. While patching bugs can be a nice touch to poor software, I don't know if I feel comfortable with ANYONE installing software on my hardware without asking permission first."

Comments

Re: They ARE hosing customers!

[thedillybar]

And by automatically installing updates they ARE hosing customers. They get lucky only because they're probably hosing too few to launch an attack worthy of a bullet proof limo.

Re: Microsoft owns it?

[00420]

Since Microsoft owns the hardware, they can also install a patch that makes it completely unusable, right?

Hey don't give them any ideas.
They may end up doing that so everybody has to upgrade to an Xbox2.