Microsoft Outlines Windows Phone 7 Kill Switch

nk497 writes "Microsoft has outlined how it might use the little publicized 'kill switch' in Windows Phone 7 handsets. 'We don't really talk about it publicly because the focus is on testing of apps to make sure they're okay, but in the rare event that we need to, we have the tools to take action,' said Todd Biggs, director of product management for Windows Phone Marketplace. According to Biggs, Microsoft's strict testing of apps when they are submitted for inclusion in Marketplace should minimize kill switch use, but he explained how the company could remove apps from the marketplace or phones, when devices check-in to the system. 'We could unpublish it from the catalog so that it was no longer available, but if it was very rogue then we could remove applications from handsets — we don't want things to go that far, but we could.'"

Comments

I'm not as bothered as I should be

[QuantumBeep]

Buying a mobile phone is already such an exercise in trust, I have a hard time worrying about a remote app kill switch.

Re:I'm not as bothered as I should be

[Sloppy]

All those years of bitching about Windows and saying "This isn't normal!" and being right. At some undefinable point, the bizarre alien weirdness became old enough and accepted enough to pass as "normal." The facts changed underneath me.

Damn you, AC, for pointing that out. Another little part of me just died. Fuck you. Fuck you with a chainsaw, for being right.

[Deep breath] Ok, so Windows is [choke] ..

Nnn..

Nnnnn..

Fuck you.

Windows is nnnn

Fuck.

Windows is normal.

It's normal, like how dog shit sometimes appearing in the back hall of the house is normal, now that I've had this puppy for 8 months. It wasn't normal and then, one day, it was normal. Ok, I get it. You bastard. AC, did I mention "fuck you?" I just wanna make sure we're clear on this: fuck you for implying Windows is normal and being right. Probably right. Right under protest. Fuck you.)

So .. if that OS is that way (you know what I mean), even so: Windows users have the option of not installing (or removing if preloaded) AV software, don't they? Isn't the owner still ultimately empowered to take on the job of cleaning up their malware?

(I'm still in shock. Tomorrow we might have to fight about the N word applying to that OS. I gotta gather my wits here. If someone wants to step in and explain how that AC just tricked me, go for it,)

Re:Remember, kids...

[rwven]

You could always root/jailbreak your android/iphone and disable the kill switch.

Re:Nokia

[angiasaa]

No, Nokia does not have a Kill Switch. However, in the event of a rogue app infestation on their smart-phones, Nokia is capable of pushing an app to excavate the offending app before initiating a self-distruct. This is done with the users permission and discretion via the pre-installed Software Update app.

Re:Another reason to keep my Blackberry?

[alen]

except with RIM all of your data flows through the Blackberry Internet Service so all they have to do is block it there. at least with apple and google there is no middle proxy between the carrier and the internet

Define: Very Rogue

[LoyalOpposition]

We could unpublish it from the catalog so that it was no longer available, but if it was very rogue then we could remove applications from handsets - we don't want things to go that far, but we could

I wonder whether "very rogue" is anything like when Windows Genuine Advantage was classified as a security update, and pushed out with the rest of the critical patches.

~Loyal