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Microsoft To Disable Windows Phone 7 Unlocking
Alex writes "In the first update to Windows Phone 7, Microsoft is planning to block ChevronWP7, which allowed users to unlock any retail Windows Phone 7 device for application side-loading without having to pay $99 per year for a WP7 marketplace account. The update, which is slated for release this month, will also introduce copy and paste functionality, among other improvements. ChevronWP7 was discontinued less than a week after its release about two months ago. ChevronWP7's three developers, Long Zheng, Rafael Rivera, and Chris Walsh were approached by Brandon Watson, Director of Developer Experience for Windows Phone 7, and decided to kill their app."
So how much did they get for this?
Who wants to bet it was intentional that this poison pill was put into the package that includes copy and paste?
Or even that copy and paste was held back for this reason?
suckers they got ya
So Microsoft charges you $100 bucks a year to access your phone's app store? Really?
That's so Ballmer.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Brandon Watson made them an offer they couldn't refuse?
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
What about the law that says you have the right to unlock your own phone?
...to the ms greed factory. Cut me a check, too. I won't create whatever workaround is required to bypass your nonexistent security whenever you announce your next yearly tax for services that would have retained more users, provided more profit, and maintained a higher level of user interaction if you simply provided it for free; like everybody else.
What about the law that says you have the right to unlock your own phone?
You still have that right. But there's no law that says the manufacturer has to make it easy for you.
There is no law stating they have to provide you access to do so...just that you can do what you want with your phone...your still free to look for or build another solution, just no Chevron. Rather suprising move though, you would think MS would overlook this simply for fear of upseting and driving away an already fragile userbase.
It's not a law, it was just an exemption to the DMCA. read more. And it only covers you and your phone, not the people that write the tools you use.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
If I was to have a Win7 device.
But as I view Win7 devices as akin to strolling about town with an albatross around my neck, it ain't gonna ever happen.
So I'm not going to be upset.
Isn't that wonderful? Just think, one less totally $#*(@% pissed off person in the world. (c:
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
"Zheng, Rivera, and Walsh have said Microsoft wants them to become more involved with the shaping of the homebrew scene on the Windows Phone platform, but ChevronWP7 will not be the way to do so. In fact, the trio has a meeting with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 team next week in Redmond, and they will be focusing on homebrew as well as stronger protection of WP7 developer intellectual property."
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
I think it was only addressed directly because it made use of a flaw that potentially could have been more than just letting your phone run non-marketplace things. However, judging by the article, i wouldn't be surprised if there was an product in the future for doing this in a legitimate fashion for enterprise customers, or something similar to XBLA Indy development.
They probably have their own strategy planned and want to have them come in on it. They've been "Sir Walter Embracement" lately within the development community. It's kind of scary.
Tiger Blooded Bi-Winning Machine
...until a few more suckers bought their product first? Consider it a loss leader. Are they so optimistic that they're gonna win against android and apple, that they can already afford to alienate their user base?
Fundamental question: What makes a smart phone smart? Answer: Ability to run applications you want that actually improve your life in some small way. Taking away the ability and deciding for me what apps I can run and at what cost is a dealbreaker. Same reason I won't touch an iPhone no matter how many lame fart apps appear for it. DRM lockdown turns a smart phone into an idiot phone -a dumb piece of shit. Certainly not worth hundreds of dollars to me. Microsoft, keep it, and shove it!
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
It's your property, assuming you bought one, and you can do whatever you like with your property, provided that there isn't a law against that. I think that's a point that's been lost in recent years, once you sell somebody a product, it's theirs to do with as they see fit. Even if what they wish to do is burn it, bury it or grind it into a fine powder.
That's how property works, if they're not actually providing you with that freedom, then they ought to be brought up on fraud charges.
Indeed, unless they're providing free Apps as a part of the deal, I can't imagine how that's going to fly. I'm not aware of any of the competitors charging for access to their equivalent shop.
It's not your phone. It's Microsoft's.
If it wasn't, they wouldn't be acting like they owned it by placing locks on it only they have the key for.
The charge is for publishing to the app store, not accessing it. Which you would know if you had read either the article or a series of comments above.
Is microsoft becoming more evil by the day? At least they could never possibly catch up to Apple's stream of pure evil. If you can't buy something and do whatever the fuck you want with it, as long as that whatever doesn't hurt other people, then it is a ripoff, a scam, a dirty lie, a DRM infested horses shit-hole at best, and extremely evil at worst. Go android.
Where is the mod rating for "scary"? Also,
I admit to not even having WP7 on the radar, but WTF Microsoft??
(Or is that 99 bucks for developer access? In that case... WTF Microsoft??)
"We are Microsoft. You shall be assimilated. Competition is futile."
I think they are looking for the same dumb schmucks that pay $60 a year for Xbox Live Gold. M$ has a great desktop operating system and office suite, but aside from that they are too greedy with their other platforms. So even though I run Windows on my computer, have Office 07, and run IE(Firefox is just as insecure but because of the lower user base with a higher secuirty sense there are less infectios, and if Firefox had the same market share IE does now we would be looking down on Firefox instead.)
My choice of console, however, is the PS3. Why? I don't have to pay an extra $60 a year to stream Netflix(last I checked it was Xbox Gold Only), hard drive upgrades are much easier, I can use the same power cable as my PC, to recharch the controller I don't need to shell out an extra $20 for the charge and play kit(instead using any UBS A - USB Mini A cable), and it can play blue ray discs so the only thing I need under the TV is the PS3.
I don't buy into the whole smartphone thing. Since I can memorize my full checking account number, still remember a student ID number I haven't used for nearly four years, and I can remember my daily schedule once I check it(outlook on my laptop) I just have a very basic cell phone(with a camera for quick accident photos if needed) and nothing more than the cheapest plan(yeah I have friends but skype, MSN, AIM, and email are the main comm methods including setting up a time to hang out.) I get the occasional SMS message from one if they want to set something up for after I'm done with classes(economy sucks, back in school, blah blah.)
So yeah, most smartphones are completely usesles. If I am traveling, but not driving I bring my kindle, and a good book iof the battery is dead. Microsoft is just trying to play off of those people that will shell out for something that normally is free.
or just use webOS and enter upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart (http://developer.palm.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1552&Itemid=59#dev_mode)
2010 just called. It's now 2011.
It's $99 to publish apps (which also allows you to side-load apps without going through the marketplace). Same as iPhone.
There are laws that say a car manufacturer can't refuse to honor a warranty if you do work yourself, as well as various other things to keep from locking you into dealer-only service. Why are electronics different?
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
This is exactly the same thing that happened to Homer's internet company, Compu-global-hyper-mega-net. From: http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net is Homer's Internet company. The company's headquarters is the dining room of 742 Evergreen Terrace. It is never made clear what the company sells or offers, however Microsoft's Bill Gates still buys out the company. After Homer received the wrong mail that was meant to go to Flanders since he started an online Internet service homer read and researched the "Internet" he told Marge they were behind in the world of tech and they started a computer company that was destroyed by billionaire Bill Gates when he said "Well I don't get rich by writing a lot of checks," then he told his goons to "buy him out boys" but when Homer got his hopes up the goons started smashing everything and he and Marge were trapped in the corner of their living room as people destroyed everything they worked for.
Thankfully Palm tells you how to do this for free on any WebOS device. Download the tools for free and install your own apps over a USB cable. I think someone actually has a way of doing this wireless too.
http://developer.palm.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1552&Itemid=59#dev_mode
Really nice OS, sensible company. Pitiful marketshare. :(
Post anonymously - For when your opinion embarrasses even you!
Because the auto industry got bad enough at a time we still cared about protecting consumers that we actually passed laws targeted at automotive companies abusing them.
I think we should pass similiar laws protecting consumers of other items, and in general. But lately all we pass are laws protecting corporate interests.
Ahh but then that little nagging issue of "Licensing" comes up. That's where you don't own it, you're paying to borrow it. And in that case they're allowed to dictate terms of use of their property.
But then all the consumers don't want software to be licensable, and all corporations do, and you know who wins that war.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
And hopefully they'll continue to do so.
My N900 allowed me to trivially gain root access by enabling a repository and installing a package that enabled root access. I was able to then add additional repositories and do whatever the hell I wanted.
I don't expect it to always be that easy, and would prefer at least a hardware latch before such activation (proper security with strong defaults) but there should ALWAYS be an "opt-out" for users to assume. The vast majority won't, but it'll keep the handful that want to off your back.
And hell, they may help you later.
This will affect all of what...11 or 12 Windows phone users?
Same as Apple, $100/year gets you the ability to publish in the marketplace, and mostly goes to verifying your identity.
Consuming apps from the marketplace is free, aside from the actual price of any apps you decide to buy.
I guess Ryu was right, all those years ago. I was really hoping Noob Saibot would join the dev team, though.
What the hell is wrong with the major phone OS's these days - iOS, Android and Windows Mobile 7 all being initially released without freaking copy and paste. I had that on my shitty palm m100 about 15 years ago.
Grrr! Try typing in a 64 character WPA key without it.
As oppsoed to the dumb smucks that can't even read the article to understand tey have no clue what they are talking about?
Why are you blaming the user? Blame MS for their crappy OS .
What really annoys me is this attempt to lock down hardware. I refuse to buy a computer I can't install whatever I like on it.
I am not a robot. I am a unicorn.
I think you've been watching too many cartoons.
Wait, you mean a function that has been a part of Windows Mobile 5/6 and the early days of PocketPC/WinCE is just now being introduced to WM7?
It's not a law, it was just an exemption to the DMCA. read more. And it only covers you and your phone, not the people that write the tools you use.
And the exception is only temporary. With a few years of 20 20 hindsight, we can now see that DMCA has not yielded real benefits to anybody but lawyers, thugs and would be monopolists. DMCA is not a law, it is pure evil.
Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
Most people in my country don't buy their phones; instead, they enter an arrangement not unlike rent to own. Of the four major wireless carriers, only the smallest (T-Mobile) offers service plans designed to go with an up-front purchase, and most of these Windows phones appear to be on a different carrier (AT&T).
I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure you still need to pay something to Microsoft for XBLA Indy development, and to run your game on your Xbox 360.
Restrictions and license fees will never weed out bad coders
Congratulations on not falling for the genetic fallacy. But try telling that to CronoCloud and other console fanboys, who think video game developers working from home deserve for console makers not to give them the time of day and deserve not to have a platform on which to make and sell games in genres ill suited for desk play. Console fanboys tend to think the reason Nintendo rejected Bob's Game , for instance, was because failure to meet Nintendo's (published) arbitrary organizational criteria was a surefire indicator of lack of quality.
If you want to know which scenario most people want, check out the latest market share reports.
The latest report is that Apple will double the number of U.S. wireless carriers that offer the iPhone this February. A change like that is likely to shake up market share numbers and help figure out how much of Android's lead is "iOS sucks" and how much is "AT&T sucks".
I want to go back to the days when we [...] could open up any hardware, solder in whatever components we wanted.
I have one word for you: Arduino.
It's a phone not a computer. A phone is something you depend on more than a computer.
So I'm already happy with my phone. Why can't I easily buy a separate handheld computer that isn't locked down? There used to be PDAs, but the PDA manufacturers have largely switched to making only "smartphones" (PDA and phone joined at the hip). Google won't even allow an Android device officially access the Market unless it's joined at the hip to a phone, except for one Samsung product not sold in the United States.
Did you ever own a Windows Mobile phone before WP7? every single one of them had a reset button and boy did you need it!
That was because the CE kernel used in Windows Mobile 6 wasn't exactly designed for telecom-level reliability. Linux, on the other hand, has already proven itself in servers, router appliances, and the like, and its reliability is one of the reasons why Android has been winning. (That, and AT&T's unpopularity, and Nokia's avoidance of North America.)
However evil this latest stunt may be, its also an own goal
Was it also an own goal for Nintendo to put the lockout chip into the NES? At the time, it appeared to have been required because the U.S. video game market was in a recession, ostensibly due to a flood of unenjoyable game releases for second generation consoles.
Did they not learn from Sony?
"Luke, you do not yet realize your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training..."
"Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
But there's no law that says the manufacturer has to make it easy for you.
Only because we never needed one before. There was no reason to have a law saying that you can't sell a treacherous washing machine, because it was never possible to make a treacherous washing machine. Now it's possible to make a treacherous phone. I think we need this law.
.... gonna unlock my Zune?
And provide drivers for my Microsoft Microscope?
I think a better way of phrasing that would be, 'Lately, corporations have been writing the laws and the bribed lobbyist-supported politicians happily let them have their way'
no, 99$ to post your app to the market!
Unlocking for use on multiple operators is not the same as unlocking to allow unsigned software.
This is funny .. linux neckbeards making fun of marketshare of products..
'most people are idiots', 'we have to protect the innocent even if it means taking away their freedom', 'it is for your own good', 'let us decide what's good for you', blah blah blah.
can i, as a citizen of the free world, have the choice to decide what is good for me and what is not? if i can vote, i guess i am sensible enough to choose an utrusted app or decline it. how can you force me to use a phone that i own in the ways that YOU want me to?
this is wrong a some many levels! Next, you will ban muslims from using it i guess?
The purpose of all philosophers was to impress women
I was going to moderate in this thread but I can't now. It is the USA that has cultured this environment where corporations have so much power and the consumer has basically none (except for buying power which is pretty futile when you're going up against these mega-corporations). I'll get modded troll or something for this, but I don't care. I agree with your post, but your solution is to pass more laws? Fuck passing laws, there are already too many fucking laws that serve nobody but the corporations the laws exist to increase their profit. The solution isn't to create more stupid laws, the solution is to abolish those laws that serve nobody except for those with the deepest pockets and corporations.
Before you suggest that I don't butt into something that is a US thing and has nothing to do with the rest of the world, I will say "yes it does affect the rest of the world". The arrogance of your "elected" government (which is really just a representation for the mega-corporations is totally fucked up. It affects the rest of the world through trade agreements, limiting what other governments in the world can do. Fortunately there are a lot of well-regarded people who foresee the collapse of the USA. I hope it happens sooner than later. I do not have anything against US citizens -- it's your government and their not so opaque concern regarding corporations rather than your people that pisses me off.
because they are saying, "you arent allowed to do that." the more you tell hackers they "cant" do something the more likely they are going to do it. case and point: iphone.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Chevron seven... locked!
Yeah, you need a subscription for 100$ a year for xbox development, but that's in a sandboxed (managed) environment, and you get around 1/3rd of the Xbox' CPU power (while you have full access to the graphics hardware).
As a student, you can get both subscriptions for free through the Dreamspark program, and I've been devving away on the xbox for a year, and now for a month on my phone with having paid 0 dollars to Microsoft (even got the phone for free from them specifically to develop on the thing).
Also, a single subscription to the developers thing gives you the ability to unlock 3 phones, and that will last as long as your subscription lasts.
The marketplace is free. You pay $99/year as a developer to put apps on it. Same goes for Apple.
I'm Rocco. I'm the +5 Funny man.
Do you want better proof they rewrote the entire OS? Functionality they had before is now missing, can't beat that as proof!!
Nope; it's your lease to use their property under their EULAcal whims.
Android is a Linux phone. However, that doesn't mean a vendor won't try to lock it down. They still can 'Tivo-ize' it, and keep all access to the filesystem locked down. I think currently at least side-loaded apps are possible everywhere *but* WP7 and iPhone, but it is advisable to be aware that Linux != open hardware.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
I like homebrew, you get some cool customized stuff from this.
After reading TFA they either did not try very hard to keep M$ off their back, or this was just a proof of concept for them to see if they could get a job with M$, now they have cushy jobs on the WP7 team and probably got nice bonuses too....
to bad for the rest of the homebrew community, maybe someone can pick up where they left off....sort of like openlimewire...
I don't know why slashdotters seem fixated on classifing logical fallacies when that classification is irrelevant to the argument.
You could call it data compression. Classifying fallacies helps to identify them efficiently in a 120-character Slashdot signature.
Don't pass dozens of specific laws to protect the consumer from the exploits of the x and y industries - just remove the 'automobile' bit from the old laws. I've never understood why cars should be special in any way, shape or form concerning standards of quality and servicability.
Most people aren't students, though. So the $99 fee still holds for most people.
well, MS bought them off, I guess no one will every make one again.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on