It's possible to argue that the adoption of any modern mobile OS is contingent on the homebrew community. The ChevronWP7 team initially took the lead and even met with Microsoft to work out details for homebrew on WP7, but that has not stopped other groups from pursuing their own jailbreaking opportunities.
Jaxbot of Windowsphonehacker.com has successfully unlocked the latest set of tools released by Microsoft only days ago. According to Windowsphonehacker:
Microsoft released a new build of their Windows Phone 7 Development Tools yesterday, and as with previous versions, it's been completely locked down. Thankfully, similar to the previous version, it's been unlocked. This time, however, it was unlocked by our very own Jaxbot.
The latest unlocking is not perfect, with the source stating that the settings menu is currently acting up and does not currently have an ETA on when a fix will be available. The current unlocking community is still in its infancy and has a long way to go to match the current capabilities of jailbreaking iOS or rooting Android, but, with enough time, WP7 will too flourish under the unlocking community.
The ability to unlock an OS is a crucial step for any platform. Despite the circumvention, the jailbreaking community can be credited with helping to propel the iPhone into the mainstream by allowing new features and programs to the platform long before Apple made them available.
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