Geohot threatens to buy a Windows phone - Microsoft supports him


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Tired of being bullied by Sony with lawsuits and by Apple asking for jailbreaking to be made illegal, Geohot, the famous iPhone hacker, has suggested Microsoft’s more humane treatment of jailbreakers may be more to his liking.

Writing on his website he says:

perhaps a more appropriate way to deal with jailbreakers

I’m going out to buy a Windows 7 phone

Jump in Geohot, the water is warm, just don’t break anything!

It seems Microsoft is just as welcoming, posting on his twitter account.

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Source: WMPowerUser

I must say, I'm impressed at the way Microsoft is dealing with jailbreakers. Unlike Apple/Sony, they seem to be encouraging / assisting them with it rather than getting court orders to prevent it.

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Unlike Apple/Sony, they seem to be encouraging / assisting them with it rather than getting court orders to prevent it.

Get your facts straight please. It's legal to do it in the U.S. (to an extent) ;)

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Cool, let's all adopt a hacker. Couldn't make mobile device security any worse than it already is.

You do realize that security companies hire hackers / virus writers all the time, right? The reason behind it is simple, they found a way around the security mechanism of your product..so why not hire him and learn what he knows to improve your product?

Now Microsoft can either do everything in their power to prevent him...or hire him and make their products better, both from a security standpoint and for the consumers.

Get your facts straight please. It's legal to do it in the U.S.

Isn't stopping Apple and Sony from getting court orders to prevent it, go check the front page news. And not to mention, the US =/= the world.

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You do realize that security companies hire hackers / virus writers all the time, right? The reason behind it is simple, they found a way around the security mechanism of your product..so why not hire him and learn what he knows to improve your product?

That's why hacker's never publish the source code for rooting on the Android. i.e. Unrevoked.com

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Microsoft is developing good rapport with security experts since the last decade, they're seeing a much bigger picture while other companies feel initially threatened.

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by 'cool stuff' , do they mean bypassing the security which decides what gets on the phone and what doesnt?

And by security do you mean "blocking people from doing what they want with the device they bought" or do you mean "stopping malicious files from being downloaded and installed without your permission"?

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And by security do you mean "blocking people from doing what they want with the device they bought" or do you mean "stopping malicious files from being downloaded and installed without your permission"?

You're in a gray area now, you're device that you bought does specific things, it's sold that way, the EULA says as much, and while jailbreaking/rooter or w/e is fine and maybe legal or not in the end if you're trying to do something that's unsupported by MS or the OEMs or anyone else then that's all on you. In the end it depends on what you want to actually do, do you want to crack the security to pirate apps/games? Do you want to crack the security to copy downloaded or streamed media off of it to your PC? Or to send those files to others via bluetooth or something? All of that is in the end not allowed and illegal, so while you want to argue, "it's my device I bought it". That doesn't fly in this case.

In the end you need to be specific, what is the "thing you want to do" that is being blocked exactly?

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well i give kudos to microsoft for this move. i certainly hope they will allow devs to create 3rd party themes & roms for the device. not just be like the iphone that is still pretty limited themeing wise. i agree people should have a choice to make their phone act and look they way they want too. like me im not a fan of metro UI and id love to be able to run lets say an updated version of sense or even spb mobile shell on the devices. if this really happens i may have to consider buying a wp7 as my next device.

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You're in a gray area now, you're device that you bought does specific things, it's sold that way, the EULA says as much, and while jailbreaking/rooter or w/e is fine and maybe legal or not in the end if you're trying to do something that's unsupported by MS or the OEMs or anyone else then that's all on you. In the end it depends on what you want to actually do, do you want to crack the security to pirate apps/games? Do you want to crack the security to copy downloaded or streamed media off of it to your PC? Or to send those files to others via bluetooth or something? All of that is in the end not allowed and illegal, so while you want to argue, "it's my device I bought it". That doesn't fly in this case.

In the end you need to be specific, what is the "thing you want to do" that is being blocked exactly?

Any applications I want to load on - I can't think of anything off the top of my head but it is the principle of the thing.

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And by security do you mean "blocking people from doing what they want with the device they bought" or do you mean "stopping malicious files from being downloaded and installed without your permission"?

Meh, Microsoft don't sell the the device so you do whatever you want with it, they sell you the device under the pretence that you can do what you want within their sandbox. You're buying their product, experiencing their design and their work and their choices. They don't sell it to use as a piece of random hardware for you to do whatever you want with :p If people wanted to do whatever they want, a) They should have known better, and b) they probably should have just bought some generic random hardware.

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Meh, Microsoft don't sell the the device so you do whatever you want with it, they sell you the device under the pretence that you can do what you want within their sandbox. You're buying their product, experiencing their design and their work and their choices. They don't sell it to use as a piece of random hardware for you to do whatever you want with :p If people wanted to do whatever they want, a) They should have known better, and b) they probably should have just bought some generic random hardware.

not really, with the exception of piracy i dont thnk MS would/should limit WP7.its not in their interest... your argument should holds true for iOS

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What exactly is it that Microsoft have done? Besides having a meeting with the ChevronWP7 team and offering this Geohot guy a phone it seems like WP7 is just as locked down (for the average user) as it has ever been.

Am I missing something?

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What exactly is it that Microsoft have done? Besides having a meeting with the ChevronWP7 team and offering this Geohot guy a phone it seems like WP7 is just as locked down (for the average user) as it has ever been.

Am I missing something?

Yes. (Patience)

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What exactly is it that Microsoft have done? Besides having a meeting with the ChevronWP7 team and offering this Geohot guy a phone it seems like WP7 is just as locked down (for the average user) as it has ever been.

Am I missing something?

its been like 3 months since they released it.

registry hacks are up already at xda.

WP7 has already been ported to HD2, now with even live/zune services working.

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They will love him until he moves his focus to the xbox 360;)

He's had years to, why wait till now?

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