Windows Phone Unlock Tool Goes Official 118
judgecorp writes "A tool to unlock (or 'jailbreak' if you like) Windows Phone devices is now available with Microsoft's blessing. ChevronWP7 Labs was withdrawn at Microsoft's request a year ago, but is back now, allowing users to run any app on their phones for a cost of $9."
I would have had first post (Score:3)
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Shit, I actually got first post. I guess I get downmodded now, right? :(
No, but you owe us $9.00.
sincerely,
The Slashdot App Store.
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you are about to be sued by apple for use of "app" and "store" in the same sentence with out the words apple, ios, mac, or itunes fallowed by a (TM).
Seriously? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Microsoft does actually have their own version too, it's what developers buy and it costs $99/year. It does come with extras, like the right to publish your apps in the store.
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Actually, I saw some study on why the growth of mac os x didn't mean the decline of windows... Most people that own a mac still boot into windows sometimes and/or have a windows machine somewhere that they use to do those things mac os x can't (like play games or open highly formatted word documents).
I'm a prime example, in my houshold we own 3 macs, but I'm currently typing from a windows machine (:
So, yeah, I agree that windows isn't loosing it's spot anytime soon, unless they decide that windows 8 won't
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The fact that MS was forward-thinking enough to purchase technology companies that were MORE forward-thinking than they were, shows that they were actually pretty forward-thinking to begin with! ::facepalm::
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Microsoft has been losing market share over the past decade or so precisely because it was not forward thinking! If you disagree, what other explanation do you have?
"Forward thinking" doesn't necessarily translate to "ability to predict what's most profitable". So what if they couldn't predict that people wouldn't give a shit if a device was locked down and expensive as hell as long as it was shiny and hip? They're "forward thinking" in the sense that they're open to people using their software in unintended ways.
Re:Seriously? (Score:4, Insightful)
Ah, losing market share. What I find funny is that Windows 7 caught up to Windows XP's user share (according to StatCounter) in just six months more than the iPad used to catch up with Linux's (both happening pretty much at the same time, around these days). That's with Microsoft supposedly losing and the iPad supposedly heralding the post-PC era. I'd love to be losing like Microsoft.
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I suggest you spend some time at research.microsoft.com [microsoft.com]
It is hard to maintain a near monopoly. Earnings per share are up about 5x in the last decade. They ain't doing too bad.
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As for home desktops, OS X and Linux have made significant inroads. Is Windows still dominant? Sure. For now. But you have to admit there have been trends: IE is seriously behind the curve when it comes to everyone else, to the point that people are even ceasing to even care about supporting Microsoft's browsers on the web a
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I don't see much evidence that Linux has made any kind of inroad and OSX market share is still not up to the levels it was when Microsoft started being thought of as a monopoly. Depending on whether you count iPads Microsoft's market share is 85-90% range.
On the browser side, no question they have genuinely lost market share down to about 40%. That still makes them about 70% larger than either webkit or Gecko based browser families. And
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"I pointed you to their research group. Take a look. For that matter the .NET compiler is the most sophisticated compiler on the market used by a major platform. Their kernel is excellent and continues to be innovative.... I see lots of innovation, admittedly they are conservative and have a conservative user base but I think there is a lot of bright spots. Similar to IBM 20 years ago, lots of dead weight but lots of interesting innovations."
On this I have to disagree. It is hard to find reliable statistics related to development platforms, but there has been something of a mass exodus away from .net over the last 7 or 8 years, and I am one of them. Obviously this is only anecdotal evidence, still this is my observation:
.NET jobs out there, IMHO
While there are still plenty of
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I think you are confusing 3 different topics:
1) Is X innovative
2) Is X popular
3) Do you personally like X
Your original claim was that Microsoft wasn't innovative. The .NET compiler is an example of heavy innovation in compiler design. That has nothing to do with it being popular, nor much to do with the criteria for which you like Ruby on Rails.
As far as popularity, compiled languages & desktop applications are much less popular than they were 2 decades ago. Further desktop application developmen
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"I think you are confusing 3 different topics: ..."
No, I am not. The question was whether Microsoft was "forward thinking". That is what I was responding to. Not personal preference, but my opinion (and those of others) about how "forward thinking" it is.
"The .NET compiler is an example of heavy innovation in compiler design. That has nothing to do with it being popular, nor much to do with the criteria for which you like Ruby on Rails."
Nonsense. The .NET compiler was an example of heavy innovation 11 years ago, which is the point I was making. The "criteria" for which I "like" Ruby on Rails is directly relevant to the discussion, because those criteria are: (1) it is an implementation of a newer-technology, dynamic language, and (2) it is
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As an opensource user I must agree with you.
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Those guys are lucky they can handle the inappropriate language, spam posts, and stuff that will get them arrested. Everything else is information, misinformation, or more likely, opinion. They don't mess with those.
Yes, microsoft has done some messed up things. They are a large successful company so that's a given.
On the other hand, they've done lots of development and innovation. Lots of slashdotters would never admit to that, but the record stands.
Microsoft has definitely bought
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It's a horrible day for software freedom in general when Microsoft gets applauded for charging you 9$ to install applications on a device that you already own.
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It doesn't look like Microsoft is charging you 9$ to install this application, it looks like a third party is charging you 9$ to do it and Microsoft doesn;t have a problem with either the application or charging you 9$. If you want to write your own app to do the same thing and release it for free, go right ahead.
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Microsoft has always been. Windows is practically open platform and the mobile versions have always been too.
WP7 was not an open platform until today (hence why we have TFA). So, wrong.
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MS knows they won't stop jail breaking so they're just trying to profit from it by charging you for the tool. I expect them to still shit their pants if someone makes a free alternative.
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Apple is the only company that wants to control that.
And Nintendo.
And Sony.
And Motorola (and Google claims they will be allowed to "just be".)
And Microsoft when it comes to the XBox.
But yea other than them, only Apple.
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I doubt Microsoft would take such an action if their phone and apps store commanded the same market share as Apple's.
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Why? WinMo allowed you to install what you wanted without having to use an app store and to create apps you could use anything language that could be used for regular windows development. Apple's marketshare and app store success is the reason wp7 is more locked down.
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Not so much forward thinking as trying to do whatever it takes to catch up in the market.
I doubt Microsoft would take such an action if their phone and apps store commanded the same market share as Apple's.
Yeah, next thing you know, they'll put a giant Windows Phone in Times Square, or something else nearly as tacky.
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Microsoft has always had a more open ecosystem for their OS both on the desktop and on phones than apple ever was. It's just sad they went more closed with wp7 since.winmo was so open (both in respects to installing anything you wanted and in using a huge variety of languages to create apps).
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It's sad when Microsoft is more forward thinking than Apple isn't it.
Pfft. Microsoft is desperate to get into the "Smart Phone" market. They're so far out of the running I'm surprised they aren't having a "2-for-1" sale.
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Does it? How? I thought that any Android phone has this little switch in the settings about .apks from outside the market. Oh, it does. And there's no 'PAY NOW' button! My god, how did I miss this? ...
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Does it? How? I thought that any Android phone has this little switch in the settings about .apks from outside the market. Oh, it does. And there's no 'PAY NOW' button! My god, how did I miss this? ...
Silly me for rooting my Android phone to run a tethering app.
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That is a lot different than installing an unapproved app. Take a look at how that tether works for starters.
Re:Seriously? (Score:4, Insightful)
BullFuckingShit. Very few android phones have unknown sources blocked and all those can have apps installed in other ways.
When I can do a git of the Windows phone code, then it is starting to get close.
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Cyanogen isn't using Android?
What next, you going to claim they are stealing the code?
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Now you are really going off the deepend. The only thing google did was get them to stop distributing the GAPPS bundle. That is it.
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Because GAPPS which is not part of android, and is something google requires you to get a license for. It would be like if they bundled flash with the OS.
Are you really this dense?
Re:Seriously? (Score:4, Informative)
Christ. Here's the Git repo and download instructions [android.com]. Google did ask CyanogenMod to stop distributing its Google apps (Market, etc.), but not Android itself. You can download those apps separately, and I'm sure Google could restrict those devices from using Market if they tried. Perhaps your mother should have taught you not to lie.
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http://source.android.com/source/downloading.html [android.com]
That page sure disagrees with you.
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Actually this is limited to 10 out of market apps, android has no such limitation. Also this is a pay for feature, again android does not charge for this.
So you are wrong even with this new notion of "open".
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Go on, I'd love to hear how you would make that argument.
Wow, I would not have believed this a decade ago (Score:3)
I would not have expected this sort of news from Microsoft a decade ago. Then again, maybe we are getting too used to Apple.
I think this is a nice move by MS :)
Re:Wow, I would not have believed this a decade ag (Score:5, Insightful)
You would not have expected Microsoft a decade ago to release an open operating system while Apple released a vertically integrated and closed down market?
Microsoft is many things, but bending over backwards to let anything run on their systems (including malware) has been one of the greatest strengths and weaknesses since the beginning.
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This isn't an "open" system by any stretch of the imagination. It's basically charging people $9 for the ability to sideload software, something Android enables via a checkbox. The security systems remain 100% in force.
I'd be impressed if it put the user in control of the security systems, rather than let Microsoft retain that control (oh, and if it were free and not $9.)
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Mod parent up
How is demanding 9$ for the "privilege" to install up to 10 unapproved apps anywhere close to "bending over backwards to let anything run on their systems"?
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That's AT&T being a bunch of assholes though, not a matter of policy set by the OS vendor.
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That is kinda how MS kicked apples ass back in the day. (Macs were strongly against allowing competition to design hardware, Microsoft encoraged a huge compeating pricewar to drive down hardware prices and boost software sales.)
sed s/MS/IBM
FTFY
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IBM was the hardware manufacturer, it was IBM who lost money when the hardware competitors came in, and MS that benefited.
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Microsoft encouraged openness and competition on the hardware front so they could sneak in the back door and obtain lock-in via software instead... It worked largely because at the time software was perceived as a very small cheap component of an expensive hardware bundle, especially when you could pirate the software.
Gateway (Score:1)
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2) The $9 price tag isn't from Microsoft, it's from the guy who made the unlocker. He is selling it.
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Without threat of him being shut down by microsoft, and presumably if they're sanctioning it there's some trick on the corporate side or something. They can probably sell a US government version where the unlocker won't work or things along those lines.
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WP7 isn't really targeted at the government; it's missing a lot of certifications for things like that which Windows Mobile had and Blackberry has. It's intended for the mass-market, and this works well for that.
However, if they wanted to create a modified ROM that didn't allow installing unsigned applications, that would be quite easy indeed. The "am I unlocked?" setting is just a registry value. It's probably only checked a few places in the code. Modify those checks so they always return "false" or modif
It's a scam (Score:2, Informative)
You pay the $9 to run your own apps on the phone, right. But only atmost 5 of them. Yes, there is a limit on the number of apps you are allowed to run on your very own phone. And you have to pay for that. Pathetic.
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Windows is to big for app store lock down anit tru (Score:2)
Windows is to big for app store lock down anit trust laws is one thing.
But the app store system should only block apps that can damage the system not adult games / pron apps.
What does it not do that the previous version did? (Score:2)
It if allows unchecked code, it doesn't appear to be that much different than the previous version aside from version differences.
Hopefully it has no restrictions on what code can be done, thus being as full of an unlock as the previous one was. Otherwise it still makes ChevronWP7 another "embrace, extend, extinguish" job.
Re:What does it not do that the previous version d (Score:5, Interesting)
Unfortunately, there's a barrier in Mango (whether you use the marketplace developer account dev-unlock, which has been available from day 1, or ChevronWP7 Labs which is essentially the same thing from the phone's perspective) that prevents apps from getting high-permission access (specificlaly, prevents opening a handle on a driver, which is the standard way to break out of the low-privilege app sandbox on WP7). To do this, an app needs to specify the "INTEROPSERVICES" capability in its manifest, and by default Mango blocks installing or running non-marketplace apps with this capability. NoDo and below did not - that's how people were able to do file browsers, registry editors, tethering apps, and so forth - but this restriction is part of Mango.
You can still run some homebrew apps, including native code, but only with low permissions. While it's useful to know there's limits on what an app can do, I'd really like to be able to remove those limits on apps I trust. A webserver that demonstrates access to the full socket API, including TCP server sockets (the official API only has client sockets) is cool, but there's a lot more that you could do.
Fortunately, there's a way around this restiction also built into the OS. The process of removing this restriction is called "interop-unlock" by the guys who discovered it, and is possible easily on LG phones (change the MaxUnsignedApp registry value to 300 or more using the built-in registry editor), possible on Samsung phones (instructions and app here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1271963 [xda-developers.com]), and difficult if possible at all on HTC phones (requires rolling back to pre-Mango, which isn't possible on new devices). No solution at all for Dell, Toshiba, or Nokia yet.
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Wait, you mean they're doing something to sell their product?!
God damn it, somebody call my Congressman - I won't put up with this shit where a company performs actions meant to increase the sale of their products!
A note about the group that worked on it (Score:3)
His involvement in this project and in other general Windows reverse-engineering gigs in the past leads me to believe that ChevronWP7 is a solid and safe release. The fact that Microsoft endorsed this is not at all a surprise.
Nine dollars (Score:1)
In Soviet Apple (Score:2)
But seriously, this "jailbreak" is a Microsoft-sanctioned app that costs $9 and requires you to log-in to windows live... Doesn't sound like a jailbreak to me. Sounds like something that Microsoft should have BEEN OFFERING IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Whats that, we get to run whatever app we want on the computer we bought? THANKS MICROSOFT! Hey, it beats the $99 yearly fee to get a dev licence.
Seriously? Do they not want people developing for their platform? (oh, that's right, they only
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But seriously, this "jailbreak" is a Microsoft-sanctioned app that costs $9 and requires you to log-in to windows live... Doesn't sound like a jailbreak to me. Sounds like something that Microsoft should have BEEN OFFERING IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Paying $9 to be able to run whatever shit you like compares remarkably favourably with Apple's "fuck you" policy towards unsigned apps, in which you can do it if you want but only if you hack the damn device, and then expect it to break the next time iOS updates. It doe
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It doesn't make them the best by a long shot (BlackBerry and Android win that handily)
Truth.
At least, unlike Apple, they give you a legitimate way to do it.
Neither should be acceptable.
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Whats that, we get to run whatever app we want on the computer we bought? THANKS MICROSOFT! Hey, it beats the $99 yearly fee to get a dev licence.
Ubuntu 12.04 Gold Pass: run up to 10 packages not from the Software Centre: only $10
unlocking vs jailbreaking (Score:1)
Aren't jailbreaking and unlocking different? Calibrating refers to being able to execute cystine programs on your phone, whereas unlocking allows one to use any carrier. I think this article is referring to jailbreaking.
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'unlock' or 'jailbreak' (Score:2)
A tool to unlock (or 'jailbreak' if you like) Windows Phone devices
I don't know if this is global or local parlance, but over here "unlock" generally refers to removing the SIM-lock from a locked phone, enabling the use of SIMs from any service provider. This is in most cases a breach of contract with the original service provider, unless the contract has since expired.
Jailbreaking refers exclusively to the removal of any restrictions to the installation of applications. Granted, in most cases one has to jailbreak the phone to unlock it, since the unlocking software is gen