=NukeBlaze=
09-16-2003, 06:11 PM
It seems Microsoft can automaticly update software on your Xbox when you connect to Xbox live. M$ just released a Dashboard update for online and as well a bug fix...The Bug is running Linux on Xboxes.
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Microsoft auto-updates bug in Xbox software "without permission"
Your Xbox has a bug that is costing Bill money
By Rick Reroy: Monday 15 September 2003, 10:58
ACCORDING TO REPORTS, Microsoft has started automatically updating Xbox game consoles with a new version of the Dashboard software. When users use "Xbox-Live", the feature of the Xbox that lets you play against other people on the Internet, the Xbox will also download some bug fixes without asking you.
The Xbox games do have a warning on them that connecting to the Xbox Live Vole Service may update your Xbox, however.
The particular bug that this update will correct for the user is the ability to run Linux. Once the update is in place you will not be able to install Linux on your Xbox any more, at least not in the convenient way that the Dashboard bug allowed, according to the XboxLinux pages.
An interesting aspect of this affair is the insight it provides into the future of trussed-up computing, the initiative that promises to make your computer a restricted zone where content providers (Vole Central, the members of the RIAA or the MPAA, etc.) can keep control over their data even as they extract payment from you for the enjoyment of it. The Xbox software/hardware combination is a test bed for a lot of this technology and this is unlikely to be the last patch to fix a bug that end users don't necessarily want fixing.
The Xbox only runs software approved by Microsoft. Part of the approval procedure involves promising to pay taxes (for each game sold) to the Vole empire. Since the Xbox itself is generally assumed to be sold at a loss, this source of income is vital to the Volish plan to burrow into the games console market.
Needless to say, there's no version of Linux that is approved by Microsoft for use on the Xbox. Therefore there is no version of Linux with the requisite electronic signature attached. Without the signature the Xbox will reject your CD or DVD.
To install Linux on your Xbox using the Dashboard bug you need only a special memory stick (which you can borrow or make on a modern Mac or any other computer with both Unix-a-like and USB) plus the Microsoft game MechAssault. You put a specially crafted file on the memory stick that looks like a saved MechAssault game, but is, in fact a bundle of devious Linux-installing cleverness. Load the 'saved game' and suddenly your Xbox will accept a Linux CD despite the lack of a signature. It still won't accept random non-signed content, so you can't run unlicensed copies of games like you can if you open up your Xbox and install an mod chip.
The automatic update raises a few questions in our minds, if the reports turn out to be correct. For example, doesn't Microsoft have to ask you for permission before it makes changes to your Xbox? We're not lawyers, but it looks a bit like an offence against the Computer Misuse Act. Similar statutes are no doubt on the books in most countries. Now it could be that Xbox users already gave Microsoft permission to do this update by signing on some dotted line, clicking on some "I agree" button or tearing off some piece of magic cellophane. But the extent to which shrink wrap licences are actually legal contracts isn't quite clear - there are certainly countries where unwrapping your Xmas presents doesn't have the same legal weight as placing your signature on a dotted line.
The second question is, if unauthorised electronic voles can scurry around in your Xbox patching up holes and leaks, won't we soon be seeing the same happen on people's desktop computers? The answer, of course, is yes, as we already reported. The idea is a two-edged sword: On the one hand it could provide better protection against e-epidemics such as the MSBlast worm that infected hundreds of thousands of machines a few weeks ago.
On the other hand, automatic updates provide the possibility of foul-ups of hitherto unseen dimensions. A quickly rushed out security update with a bug in it could be automatically propagated to millions of machines. If the bug was severe enough to prevent users from downloading the fix-to-the-fix, the disruption would be massive. µ""
""
Microsoft auto-updates bug in Xbox software "without permission"
Your Xbox has a bug that is costing Bill money
By Rick Reroy: Monday 15 September 2003, 10:58
ACCORDING TO REPORTS, Microsoft has started automatically updating Xbox game consoles with a new version of the Dashboard software. When users use "Xbox-Live", the feature of the Xbox that lets you play against other people on the Internet, the Xbox will also download some bug fixes without asking you.
The Xbox games do have a warning on them that connecting to the Xbox Live Vole Service may update your Xbox, however.
The particular bug that this update will correct for the user is the ability to run Linux. Once the update is in place you will not be able to install Linux on your Xbox any more, at least not in the convenient way that the Dashboard bug allowed, according to the XboxLinux pages.
An interesting aspect of this affair is the insight it provides into the future of trussed-up computing, the initiative that promises to make your computer a restricted zone where content providers (Vole Central, the members of the RIAA or the MPAA, etc.) can keep control over their data even as they extract payment from you for the enjoyment of it. The Xbox software/hardware combination is a test bed for a lot of this technology and this is unlikely to be the last patch to fix a bug that end users don't necessarily want fixing.
The Xbox only runs software approved by Microsoft. Part of the approval procedure involves promising to pay taxes (for each game sold) to the Vole empire. Since the Xbox itself is generally assumed to be sold at a loss, this source of income is vital to the Volish plan to burrow into the games console market.
Needless to say, there's no version of Linux that is approved by Microsoft for use on the Xbox. Therefore there is no version of Linux with the requisite electronic signature attached. Without the signature the Xbox will reject your CD or DVD.
To install Linux on your Xbox using the Dashboard bug you need only a special memory stick (which you can borrow or make on a modern Mac or any other computer with both Unix-a-like and USB) plus the Microsoft game MechAssault. You put a specially crafted file on the memory stick that looks like a saved MechAssault game, but is, in fact a bundle of devious Linux-installing cleverness. Load the 'saved game' and suddenly your Xbox will accept a Linux CD despite the lack of a signature. It still won't accept random non-signed content, so you can't run unlicensed copies of games like you can if you open up your Xbox and install an mod chip.
The automatic update raises a few questions in our minds, if the reports turn out to be correct. For example, doesn't Microsoft have to ask you for permission before it makes changes to your Xbox? We're not lawyers, but it looks a bit like an offence against the Computer Misuse Act. Similar statutes are no doubt on the books in most countries. Now it could be that Xbox users already gave Microsoft permission to do this update by signing on some dotted line, clicking on some "I agree" button or tearing off some piece of magic cellophane. But the extent to which shrink wrap licences are actually legal contracts isn't quite clear - there are certainly countries where unwrapping your Xmas presents doesn't have the same legal weight as placing your signature on a dotted line.
The second question is, if unauthorised electronic voles can scurry around in your Xbox patching up holes and leaks, won't we soon be seeing the same happen on people's desktop computers? The answer, of course, is yes, as we already reported. The idea is a two-edged sword: On the one hand it could provide better protection against e-epidemics such as the MSBlast worm that infected hundreds of thousands of machines a few weeks ago.
On the other hand, automatic updates provide the possibility of foul-ups of hitherto unseen dimensions. A quickly rushed out security update with a bug in it could be automatically propagated to millions of machines. If the bug was severe enough to prevent users from downloading the fix-to-the-fix, the disruption would be massive. µ""