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Windows Marketplace For Mobile Kill Switch Details

Posted by timothy on from the will-I-get-my-four-years-back? dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft recently gave more details on Windows Marketplace for Mobile during the Tech Ed New Zealand 2009 session titled 'Distributing and Monetizing Applications through Windows Marketplace Mobile,' led by Loke Uei Tan, Senior Product Manager on the Windows Mobile Team. Geekzone covered the event in good detail, but one of their points caused a lot of uproar in the blogosphere: 'If an application is approved but later removed from the marketplace it will then be automatically removed from all mobile devices.' That sounded a bit ominous to Ars Technica, so they checked in with Microsoft. 'In the vast majority of instances where an application is removed from Windows Marketplace for Mobile, users of this application will continue to be able to use these applications on their phones,' a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. 'In the rare event an application from Marketplace exhibits harmful behavior or has unforeseen effects, Marketplace has the capability to remotely uninstall these applications. While we hope to avoid this scenario, we will make refunds available in such cases.'"

10 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Thats kind of scarry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What if the program encrypted your data and then it was remotley un-installed, what then?

    1. Re:Thats kind of scarry by EdIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't put a lot of faith in software on any platform

      I don't put a lot of faith in a platform in which I am not the all seeing, all powerful God of it's digital universe.

      That's the problem. The platform that Microsoft (and others) provide is one in which they don't respect that cold hard fact. They refuse to respect it. In physical terms, it would be like renting a place and the landlord can come in and take out furniture and property at their whim. Sure, Microsoft is offering a refund. I don't care. I still had to come home to find my couches missing.

      The poster you replied to mentioned encryption. That would be like finding the refrigerator missing and all your food on the kitchen floor. Will Microsoft be compensating you for the spoilage? The inconvenience? Most likely not, in fact, I am extremely shocked they even offered a refund.

      This situation played out on the Kindle with 1984 (talk about a cosmic joke).

      To bottom line it, people need to be educated about how all this "stuff" works. When they start to understand that they have zero control and are basically being treated like 4-year olds with their property, I expect change will come then.

      Until that point, I guess we just have to hope these corporations are benevolent with our best interests in mind and would never, ever, compromise their ethics at our expense for a buck.

  2. First Task by Statecraftsman · · Score: 4, Funny

    exhibits harmful behavior or has unforeseen effects

    Doesn't sound like Windows Mobile and the Marketplace App are going to be with us for long.

  3. Re:Woah. That was me! by Kalriath · · Score: 4, Informative

    Troll? Nice. If that mod was actually present, they'd actually know that it actually was me. Well, if you knew who I was anyway.

    Still, it seemed the presenter thought that he was asking if the app would be removed from sale, not remote nuked from devices. Anyway, pleased to hear that this isn't necessarily the case- the response seemed to indicate that the nuke would occur for any app Microsoft removed.

    Bear in mind folks, that Apple can do, and have done, the same thing as well.

    --
    For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
  4. Re:dumbass by StreetStealth · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, this is different. Kind of.

    A book, being a non-executable, isn't going to suddenly delete your data or leak personal information to a third party. As long as the kill switch is only used for actually dangerous applications, it should be fine, with one caveat:

    It shouldn't be automatic. The user should be prompted with a severe warning, and then allowed to continue at their peril. Because there are always exceptions.

    Actually, if Amazon had set up their system to do something similar, there wouldn't have been a firestorm. "Warning: The seller of this book has been discovered not to own the distribution rights to it. You may keep this copy, or click here to exchange it for a properly-licensed one." That's all they would have needed to do.

    --
    Your mind is clear / The things that you fear / Will fade with how much you / Believe what you hear
  5. Why not ask the owner 1st? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I see the reasons for doing this, but I'm not sure I agree with the implementation. To me, a better way to handle this would be to not remove the application but to disable it instead and the next time the user tries to start it, give a short explanation on why it was disabled and maybe a link for more technical details with an option to enable/delete/stop. Sure, most users would probably immediately delete it, but it would be the users CHOICE too.

    1. Re:Why not ask the owner 1st? by Statecraftsman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes and yes. Why is it so hard to start with respect for the user and work from there?

    2. Re:Why not ask the owner 1st? by Arainach · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because it was tried. And it was discovered that users don't read.

  6. Re:Woah. That was me! by AuMatar · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://consumerist.com/5035528/jobs-confirms-iphone-kill-switch

    Jobs himself confirmed the capability is in the iphone. I don't know if they've used it, but they can.

    --
    I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
  7. It's so simple by spacefight · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Don't buy this shit.