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Microsoft To Work With Windows Phone 7 Jailbreakers

Posted by timothy on from the working-against-expectations dept.

markass530 writes "Microsoft had a sit down with the first people to jailbreak their Windows Phone 7. Seems like good progress was made. This seems like a good approach to me. It would be great if Sony, Apple, Microsoft, and several Android phone makers would implement a simple development switch in their phones — these would obviously void the warranty, but it would give hackers the opportunity to actually own their devices without fear of having to jailbreak all over again whenever an update arrives."

7 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. Nokia by devxo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Maybe Nokia has its hand on this? They've never been against locking the platform, you've always had a simple option to enable installing unsigned apps.

  2. Voiding the warranty by the_other_chewey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It would be great if Sony, Apple, Microsoft, and several Android phone makers would implement a simple development switch in their phones — these would obviously void the warranty [...]

    Why?

    1. Re:Voiding the warranty by Hobbex · · Score: 3, Informative

      PCs come "jailbroken" by default. It didn't void the warranty on my PC when I installed Linux on it. Why should smartphones (which are just pocket sized computers) be any different?

    2. Re:Voiding the warranty by Tacvek · · Score: 4, Informative

      Any phone that allows substantial screwing with the the RF output of the phone is using a poorly designed cellular modem chip (baseband). Short of altering the baseband firmware, the worst that a phone should be able to do is a limited denial of service attack (such as mass producing SMS messages or rapidly starting a phone or data connection, and then droping it before it is fully established, and repeating).

      That said I will admit that there are some rather poor baseband chips out there, which let the main processor specify important RF parameters.

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    3. Re:Voiding the warranty by UnknowingFool · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, they can not, at least not in the USA. The Magnuson-Moss warranty act prohibits it.

      No it does not. The Magnuson-Moss warranty act provides a framework for all warranties in the US. It covers general outlines. In the case of modifications, it says that manufacturers cannot outright void warranties based on the act of modification alone. The type of modification must be considered. Also manufacturers are expressly forbidden from tying agreements .

      Suppose, I bought a new Honda and with a manufacturer's warranty and an agreement (with the dealership) of first year free oil changes. The dealer cannot void my warranty if I don't get all my oil changes from them or if you don't use genuine Honda parts during the oil changes. That kind of tying is not allowed.

      However, the dealership is well within their rights not to service any part for free that they didn't install or repair. Otherwise it would have absurd consequences. Anyone could modify anything and expect the manufacturer to service it regardless of what was done. If I installed new tint, that doesn't void my warranty or nullify the oil changes. If I installed a new aftermarket fuel injection system, that voids the warranty on the engine but not the body. That could also nullify my oil change agreement.

      As has been pointed out already ad nauseam, you have a legal right to warranty hardware service on your iPhone whether you have jailbroken it or not. They might reasonably refuse you software service.

      As other people have said ad nauseum, warranty coverage is not absolute even under the act you mentioned above. Do you expect Dell to service your computer because it has Linux driver issues with Slackware. Heck no. Apple may service a jailbroken iPhone but most likely they will charge for service since it will not be under warranty.

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  3. Palm is very supportive of this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Palm (now HP, I guess) tells you how to enter "developer mode" for WebOS on their own website: http://developer.palm.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=1639#InstallingEclipsewiththeSDK-dev_mode Developer mode on a WebOS phone is the same as jailbreaking on iOS/Android: it allows you access to the file system, a command line if you want it, and the ability to install applications from any source. There is a LOT of homebrew development for the platform, and all of it is officially supported by Palm/HP. They even recently donated a server to a homebrew dev group.

  4. Void the Warranty? by mercurized · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why would a switch in software like that that void the Warranty? If you buy a PC, you can install any OS you like. The warranty that covers your PC is covering the hardware. If you buy a PC, have no clue what you are doing and end up trashing your windows installation, there is nothing your PC dealer's warranty will ever do for you. At least not for free. If the software is broken you reinstall it or get it serviced somewhere. If the hardware breaks down, you'll be heading up to your dealer for a warranty replacement. Why would a phone be that much different? I even find it ashaming and harsh to realize that most people really buy that crap of "warranty is only void if you do not touch the software", like there was any warranty on the software part at all. Imagine a PC dealership trying to enforce such harsh software usability limitations like "never ever install any other software than the one you got it with, or forget the warranty". Would that actually be possible selling stuff like that? Not here in Europe at least. Imagine a car dealership that denies you your warranty on the engine after a few weeks just because you changed the seat covers. Its nothing different. This entire "Other software voids your warranty" FUD is sparked by the providers and manufacturers that very much like to keep you trapped with them and their software, and sometimes even hold you, your device or your data hostage against yourself, pretty much neglecting the fact that you actually bought the device you are acting with, and still not wanting to give you any space to decide what you actually want to do with it. And the even worst part is, people accept it just like that. Today's Smartphones are more like small PCs than like the old brick phones that couldnt do much. Most of these newer handsets are technically able to run many different operating systems. One can customize the systems as well, far beyond the possibilities the vendor envisioned. It sometimes feels like your PC Vendor tries telling you that you cant put any background image on your windows desktop which you did not buy from him. If you however use your own images, or god beware, remove the logo of said Vendor from the starting screen of the OS that that would be a change that possibly damaged your hardware which in turn would be void then.. Think about it.