Slashdot Mirror
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?
Only if you're a developer. Apple charges the same fee, if I recall.
But don't let me get in the way of your anti-Microsoft ranting, informed or not.
...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.
You should have to pay to put your app in the store, but NOT to release it to the wild. Users should be free to download any app from any website, and install it on their Macs or PC or Phones. For either MS or Apple to block this ability seems rather dictatorial.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
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
It's called a "business strategy". You may think its either smart or foolish, but it's a strategy. No one said businesses had to act in a democratic way.
Whenever in an argument, remember this.
"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"
Exactly. Microsoft is positioning itself as a low-rent copy of Apple in the phone space. Say what you will, but it is a strategy.
...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
Where do you think botnets come from? Users who download and install software from websites that they shouldn't but they aren't smart enough to know the difference, or skilled enough to notice the data usage spikes.
You really don't want that kind of power on limited bandwidth cell networks. Remember the average person is an idiot.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
And how exactly does iPhone play into your little fantasy?
Not if you buy a good one dumbass. Heck, mine is not even running a vendor or carrier built OS.
Seriously, in 2010, what is the difference between "business strategy" and "dictatorial"?
2011?
It's a dictatorial business strategy. Yes, it is evil. Open computing has changed our world dramatically for the better. And every phone company out there apparently wants to put a stop to that.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
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.
Demonstratably false. If the user wants something, they will follow steps blindly to get it. If the instructions for SuperCoolApp.apk says to turn their phone into a botnet by typing various adb commands, users will do it.
First, jailbroken iPhones had a worm in them. The worm used the well-known root/alpine login to log into the phones via SSH. And why were they running SSH (it's not installed by default for jailbreaking)? Because the user wanted something and blindly followed the Cydia instructions that say stuff like "Install OpenSSH, now use PuTTY to log in (username "root", password "alpine", run FileZilla and copy the file over, run dpkg blah blah blah...".
And second, a couple of weeks ago, Android trojan with a botnet-like capability was found infecting Chinese Android app stores.
Trust me, if Joe Average wants something (pirated apps, super apps, free pr0n, etc.) they'll blindly follow any instructions in order to get it. Even stupid ones like "disable your anti virus" and "turn off your firewall". Maybe even "Forward this port on your router".
It's $99 to publish apps (which also allows you to side-load apps without going through the marketplace). Same as iPhone.
That is patently false. All you have to do is check the box labeled allow unsigned software.
Rooting software? I flashed a new image right on my phone. Your spewing FUD.
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.
>>>You really don't want that kind of power on limited bandwidth cell networks
Yes I do.
I should not be prevented from loading VLC Player or Opera or any other 'free' program on my Phone (or PC or Mac), just because most users are idiots. Let's not downgrade our phone, laptop, and desktop computers to Lowest Common Denominator uselessness. Otherwise we might as well not have computers, if we can't run the programs we want to run. We might as well wrap chains around the computers instead, and bow down to kiss Microsoft's smelly feet : "Oh please sir, please let me run jEdit on my phone. Please master, please."
Bullshit.
If that's how "smart"... correction: dumb phones will be, then count me out. I'll stick with my open, not blocked computer rather than waste money on a phone that won't let me run the programs I desire to run.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Why does this suddenly matter? At some point there is some part of the OS I did not create yes. Welcome to 2011.
You review the code in your Windows desktop OS?
Face it, it is far more likely that you will get some infection on your windows desktop then the repositories I use will be poisoned.
Where do you think botnets come from? Users who download and install software from websites that they shouldn't but they aren't smart enough to know the difference, or skilled enough to notice the data usage spikes.
But why does that only seem to happen to Windows users?
You really don't want that kind of power on limited bandwidth cell networks. Remember the average person is an idiot.
Is that why you feel comfortable posting your logical fallacy?
Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
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?
Because.... um.... Capitalism!
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.)
FWIW, my Motorola Defy on T-Mobile shipped with the "Allow Non-Market Sources" option enabled by default. I thought it was a little odd, but it might be because T-Mobile wants to ship you some of its own apps OTA without going through the Market...
Breakfast served all day!
Do you want better proof they rewrote the entire OS? Functionality they had before is now missing, can't beat that as proof!!