Jailbreaker Decides to Move to Windows Phone 7, Microsoft Delighted

[mjc0961]

In late November last year, hacker team CheveronWP7 released a semi-jailbreak of the Windows Phone, which allowed for the running of homebrew applications. They were contacted by Microsoft, and after a frank discussion, were thanked for pointing out a hole in the phone's security, which has now been fixed.

See Sony? This is what you do. You don't cut out features from the console and start a giant you VS them war which results in your system being cracked open so all the world can see it's naughty bits. You make friends and get the holes fixed so they can't be exploited by other hackers who are more malicious.

I think MS is just doing the opposite that Sony does

Considering the giant mess they're in (unsecured platform and questionable PR depending on how you feel about the homebrew community), it's probably in everyone's best interest to do the opposite of Sony.

 

[Low Key]

Sounds like brilliant marketing if they are taking the approach I THINK they are.

They could have made the phone completely open from the start, but people would just say "that's been done" and root a droid.

Or they could allow it to be Jailbroken, giving people that thrill of "I'm doing something Microsoft doesn't want me to" while having the same result. So many people disapprove of Microsoft these days, It makes me wonder if they are trying to turn that disapproval into a Windows phone by letting it be jailbroken.

Plus, think of all the free publicity the announcement of the hack will generate?

I think they are allowing it to happen because, and this is my personal opinion here, they foresee these smart phones as the new laptop. They are always with you and you can pretty much do anything on them. Intel keeps pushing out smaller, more powerful processors, and with the Sandy Bridge series, the processors even come with integrated graphics. Not to mention flash memory which is incredibly tiny, yet the drive space is constantly growing. In the next 10-15 years, who knows what our cell phones will be capable of.

Everything you said is true.....but you forgot the part where any of that information is a reason for Microsoft to allow people to jailbreak their phone...

Just to prepare their mobile OS for the same treatment their desktop OS gets. They need to keep it secure since phones are constantly in contact with many different connections (calls, SMS, wifi, 3-4G networks, and so on) compared to a desktop (ethernet or wifi), yet they need to keep it customizable or people will be up in arms.

 

[tthor]

...Wha? Whats going on? I'm confused... Whats happening? Where am I?

 

[AndyRock]

A good move by Microsoft, much better than Sony's response.

 

[dududf]

Seems like a pr stunt.

It has gotten a news article, so I guess it worked.

 

[DTWolfwood]

"if you can't beat them, join them" ???

Lets hope this phone is as successful as the Zune... ROFL cant even type that with a straight face.

 

[Ghengis John]

In fairness, they should all take the path that Palm are taking with their Pre and Pixi smartphones. They openly promotes development mode, homebrew apps, and patches. The Pre is the most versatile phone I've ever had. It is pretty much 'unbrickable' and adding any patches and homebrew doesn't affect the warranty.

Apple, Microsoft and other could take a leaf out of their book!!

Admit it! Admit it! You're a sentient AI that roams the internet looking for opportunities to plug products for Palm!

 

[tkioz]

Frankly needing to "jailbreak" your phone in order to do simple things like switch carriers is such total bullshit it's not funny, and apple's policy of "bricking" phones whenever possible prevented me from ever purchasing an iPhone despite how much I liked the one my friend had.

So good on Microsoft, don't be jerks about it, people will fiddle with stuff, no need to be a dick about it.

 

[Avayu]

Wait, am I in a mirror universe where Microsoft are the good guys? What's happening?

In all seriousness, that seems like a good idea of MS. Those hackers are like additional sniffer dogs for security holes, so being on good terms with them can only help a company. And even if MS is just doing this to spite Sony by simply doing the opposite of what Sony did and turning it into good PR, it still is a good idea.

 

[Danpascooch]

Sounds like brilliant marketing if they are taking the approach I THINK they are.

They could have made the phone completely open from the start, but people would just say "that's been done" and root a droid.

Or they could allow it to be Jailbroken, giving people that thrill of "I'm doing something Microsoft doesn't want me to" while having the same result. So many people disapprove of Microsoft these days, It makes me wonder if they are trying to turn that disapproval into a Windows phone by letting it be jailbroken.

Plus, think of all the free publicity the announcement of the hack will generate?

I think they are allowing it to happen because, and this is my personal opinion here, they foresee these smart phones as the new laptop. They are always with you and you can pretty much do anything on them. Intel keeps pushing out smaller, more powerful processors, and with the Sandy Bridge series, the processors even come with integrated graphics. Not to mention flash memory which is incredibly tiny, yet the drive space is constantly growing. In the next 10-15 years, who knows what our cell phones will be capable of.

Everything you said is true.....but you forgot the part where any of that information is a reason for Microsoft to allow people to jailbreak their phone...

Just to prepare their mobile OS for the same treatment their desktop OS gets. They need to keep it secure since phones are constantly in contact with many different connections (calls, SMS, wifi, 3-4G networks, and so on) compared to a desktop (ethernet or wifi), yet they need to keep it customizable or people will be up in arms.

There you go.

So you're saying they want this guy to find the vulnerabilities? So they can fix them?

 

[sneakypenguin]

Lets see, LG comes out and says WP7 isn't selling well MS desperately wants a piece of the pie that is absolutely dominated by iOS and Android(ftw) Seems they are desperate for any kind of press rather than any kind of developer friendliness.

 

[Aeshi]

Associating with a bunch of guys who crack security for fun and rewarding them for doing so? There is no way this can go wrong!

 

[Guru Cube]

Admit it! Admit it! You're a sentient AI that roams the internet looking for opportunities to plug products for Palm!

Hehe! If only... I am just very respectful of this type of attitude by developers. The reality is that my Palm Pre is a first gen. device and suffers from quite a few teething problems (it's in being repaired now! Doh!). I just wanted to highlight that this isn't anything new and some companies do go the whole hog and support these things well!

 

[MrMoustaffa]

"if you can't beat them, join them" ???

Lets hope this phone is as successful as the Zune... ROFL cant even type that with a straight face.

God I still regret/love buying the HD. The App support was laughable, until I found homebrew, now I have all kinds of awesome stuff. It honestly seems like they dont care what happens to the zune since there are hack sites for it all over the place.

The sad part is they're actually pretty good MP3 Players, it just seems that Microsoft is afraid to support them. I bought one since I hated Ipods, and after only a few months it seems like the forgot that it even exists. It hasnt even had an update since last April...

That being said, the fact the HD cant run videos off youtube, yet can play HD MOVIES, infuriates me to no end. I probably shoulda bought an Ipod lol...

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

hmm.. Microsfot ++ on the nice PR

 

[DTWolfwood]

"if you can't beat them, join them" ???

Lets hope this phone is as successful as the Zune... ROFL cant even type that with a straight face.

God I still regret/love buying the HD. The App support was laughable, until I found homebrew, now I have all kinds of awesome stuff. It honestly seems like they dont care what happens to the zune since there are hack sites for it all over the place.

The sad part is they're actually pretty good MP3 Players, it just seems that Microsoft is afraid to support them. I bought one since I hated Ipods, and after only a few months it seems like the forgot that it even exists. It hasnt even had an update since last April...

That being said, the fact the HD cant run videos off youtube, yet can play HD MOVIES, infuriates me to no end. I probably shoulda bought an Ipod lol...

you poor soul XD that was one of the cases where the most popular was the best choice. Microsoft is notorious for not giving a damn about a product that doesn't sell/work/have any popularity. good example, Games for Windows Live, Vista. I can certainly see this phone going that way unless it actually functions like a regular windows pc. Ease of use is their only hope when it comes to the smart phone market. (thats how the android phones won their slice of the pie)

look at how great Win7 and Xbox are doing compared to all of their failed experiments XD

 

[antigodoflife]

In fairness, they should all take the path that Palm are taking with their Pre and Pixi smartphones. They openly promotes development mode, homebrew apps, and patches. The Pre is the most versatile phone I've ever had. It is pretty much 'unbrickable' and adding any patches and homebrew doesn't affect the warranty.

Apple, Microsoft and other could take a leaf out of their book!!

Sounds like Palm are a breeding ground for viruses