An idear on howto get Microsoft of XDAs back - General Topics

Since Microsoft obviously don't understand this site purpose then we should do something that they do understand, namely dollars.
By that I mean. Microsoft shares currently trades at 30 USD/share. We are currently 2000 members of XDA. If we contribuate 1.5 USD each. We could buy 100 Microsoft stock, and continue to this over a couple of months. Then there after send someone representing XDA to the stockholders conference, and give MS some bad publicity. And thusly I am more than sure that MS would get of XDAs back.
What do you guys say to that?
/Fred

Euroman28 said:
Since Microsoft obviously don't understand this site purpose then we should do something that they do understand, namely dollars.
By that I mean. Microsoft shares currently trades at 30 USD/share. We are currently 2000 members of XDA. If we contribuate 1.5 USD each. We could buy 100 Microsoft stock, and continue to this over a couple of months. Then there after send someone representing XDA to the stockholders conference, and give MS some bad publicity. And thusly I am more than sure that MS would get of XDAs back.
What do you guys say to that?
/Fred
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regarding "Microsoft is on our back";
- They only requested us to remove a leaked and UNPUBLISHED build of WM 6.5. They didn't request us to remove all links to ROMs etc, but onlu to the build that hadn't been released yet..
Regarding the members:
Members: 1,924,422, Active Members (those who have posted last month): 259,365
You probably looked at the number of members currently on-line..
IMHO no need to protest against Microsoft, they leave us be as long as we don't release material that they themselves haven't released yet.
For the rest: they leave us messing around with the ROMs.
From my standpoint we have a real decent relationship with Microsoft, and as long as they condone us, we have nothing to complain.
So if they want us to pull a unreleased build once in a while, so be it.
(a higher build-number doesn't imply it is better )
Regards,
EqX

Okay,
But anyway if it ever goes completely sour, then ...... You know my stand on things.

It is a matter of mutual toleration. we tolerate the fact that the OS could be substantially better and spend our money on it anyway. And they tolerate the fact that we make it better, or at least customize it to our individual liking. Here is Microsoft's official view on XDA,
“Taking action against sites such as XDA-Developers isn’t a matter of concern for Microsoft” says Maarten Sonneveld of Microsoft Netherlands against tweakers.net. “What happens there, the modifying of ROMs, is illegal. The intellectual property however is not with us. The ROMs are intellectual property of the producers of the phone or the mobile phone providers if it concerns branded telephones. We simple only deliver the OS.”
And here is HTC's official stance on XDA
“What happens there isn’t allowed” says HTC Benelux-CEO Mark Moons,
“But XDA-Developers is the biggest and most active community of Windows Mobile-developers. We can’t live with ‘em and we can’t live without ‘em.”

Related

Boycott Microsoft!!

just dont buy their Vista! that should teach them something! never piss off thoses that supporting u!
netnerd said:
just dont buy their Vista! that should teach them something! never piss off thoses that supporting u!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never planned on it, what a rip off! XP will last another 3-5 years, then I am sure the next PC/MAC will have something better.
netnerd said:
just dont buy their Vista! that should teach them something! never piss off thoses that supporting u!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK....you got me....what does this have to do with upgrading your hermes.
maybe that you can not run upgrade software under vista
tco said:
OK....you got me....what does this have to do with upgrading your hermes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The pukes in Micro$oft's compliance and licensing department have demanded take down of all ROMs- source of the only stable, up-to-date WM versions of their piece-o-crap OS.
Palm did this to Shadowmite about a year ago after Cingular and Verizon started to complain to Palm. Basically MS is admiting that Gates is the carriers' *****- its a shame that sanctimonious prick elected to breed: conquers the computer world then surrenders it to Ma Bell, her children and their content providers.
Guess it's time to spread some pirated Office 2003 love....
I betcha what bothered them was the progress being made by the XDA Linux project- after seeing what Access released earlier this week M$ ought to be running scared.
I'm running SuSE Linux and have no problem upgrading my roms on my HTC TyTN.
and by the way.... all the little pretty pictures and how VISTA does multi windows with content.. Linux does too! XGL!!!!
This got me thinking.... can we load Linux on our phones?
This is annoying that M$ has to do this. They just cant leave anything alone.
Oh if Linux can do a ROM load then surely OSX can too then.
Yeah spread the good word on the process. In another topic of course(dont wanna de-rail)
This thread needs more LOLZOR1111!!!!
Seriously, wtf?
Don't buy Vista to show them what exactly?
Yeah, let's use a 5 year old OS with easily exploited security issues to teach them what?
The term cutting off your nose to spite your face comes to mind.
Also, they are protecting their legal intellectual property, and they are in the wrong?
What we do here has always been of dubious legal standing. We carry on as long as we are allowed, but we stop when we are told to stop, and that way nobody gets into trouble.
Get a grip on reality people.
Exactly well said. The trouble is instead of a nice comprehensive source of good ROMs made by people who know what they're doing. There'll be a proliferation of hacked-up images with random hacked version numbers scattered across the internet.
Will this result in fewer bricked phones and support calls?
AlanJC said:
Get a grip on reality people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't agree more.
Apparently a lot of people have problems with "reality" nowadays.
Yes, it sucks that the ROMs have to be pulled from the ftp servers.
Yes, Microsoft could do better and show a firmer stand regarding the carriers.
Yes, this online community is very valuable to Microsoft AND the carriers, if they realize it or not.
BUT: there are laws and if Microsoft demands the removal of the ROMs, it is their right to do so, like it or not. They could have used a more "aggressive" approach with their law department but they chose to use a more "soft" approach and this is a very wise decision.
However, Microsoft must realize that such unpopular decisions won't be forgotten and such actions will definetely not make their already bad reputation much better.
Calling for a boycott doesn't help much, I'm pretty sure myself that the carriers are behind the ROM removal, not necessarily Microsoft.
Maybe we should write a letter to the carriers, asking them if they're behind the pressure on Microsoft to have the ROMs removed. If the carriers are blamed instead and their decisions are out in the open, maybe they re-consider because trust me, I would NOT want to be a customer of a carrier who asked Microsoft to remove the ROMs. Definetely not.
personaly i'm not planning on getting vista untill maybe sp4
anyway
xp with 3th party software and no IE is safe enough
vista is mostly 3th party software functionality now as a std. ms thing
and fancy eye candy which linux and macos had for ages
but if ms see that vista is not selling as well as it should
and they connect the dots and form a picture that show that
their pull unoffical roms off sites
there is something wrong with their heads
Vista already not selling as well as it should - it started to show when it was released for volume (corporate) clients, and now its well clear that ordinary users dont rush to buy it despite all PR tsunami unleashed - maybe its "good, advanced, beautiful" and all the buzz, but even thick Joe User sees thats its somewhat lot of problems and complaints floating around.
The whole Vista thing was a reckless scheme - MS spent millions on development, but they lost the clear understanding of why exactly people will want it - on the latest stages it was more of make beleief.
Now they will have to transfer money from other branches, that is more profitable (namely being their Office branch, XBox being not profitable on their own). I think thats why they made it "WM6" (when it was clearly 5.2 originally and still 5.2 in matter of features and internal versioning) - for WM6 they can charge license fees from ODMs as for entirely new OS.
@All
Forget about roms, we will find alternative way to store them, so this is just empty talk. There are free filehosting sites, and other p2p distributing variants, so what's the problem? Microsoft has the rights to ask for deleting the roms, everyone know that. We will continiue what we doing but with difrend way of distributing rom images, thats all. About vista is sucks, you have to confirm every action you do about hunderd times, it works slow even with effects shutted down, and on high end configuration PC, it randomly loose settings, cookies, passwords, favorites, software and other stuff, overall it is unreliable fo usage.
I love to hate MS as much as the rest of you, but everybody needs to step back and take a breath on this one. The reason MS is doing this has nothing to do with piracy, Vista, progress, Linux, taking over the world, Bill Gates, them being money-grubbing pigs, or your grandmother.
The reasoning is simple...under US intellectual property laws, if they are made aware that someone is distributing their intellectual property (like a ROM that contains MS software) and they make no attempt to stop it, they forfeit their rights to that intellectual property. I don't think I need to explain why giving up their rights would be a bad idea for them.
In my experience, companies try to ignore sites like this for as long as they possibly can, because nobody wants to attract the kind of bad press a takedown notice causes. Inevitably, however, things get too big...a site gets a mention in the news, or it becomes the defacto source for ROMs, or it gets frequent mentions in other forums like cingular.com, and the attorneys finally have to face the fact that they can't possibly claim in court that they weren't aware that their IP was being distributed.
All companies do things like this every day to a lot of great sites and forums, not because they are jerks, but because the US legal system requires them to.
In the meantime, we just have to move on and do what everyone else does--find somewhere else to keep the bits
The reasoning is simple...under US intellectual property laws, if they are made aware that someone is distributing their intellectual property (like a ROM that contains MS software) and they make no attempt to stop it, they forfeit their rights to that intellectual property. I don't think I need to explain why giving up their rights would be a bad idea for them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually that's completely untrue. I think you're thinking of trademarks which do behave in that way. That was the reason for the necessary recent legal cases by Linus over the Linux trademark. There's no such requirement for copyrights or patents.
Not being on the inside it's hard to know the reason for the action: Whether it's the OEM's complaining. I think their logic is that if they only provide updates with new hardware then you'll have no choice but to buy their new hardware. and that people making updates for their older devices are harming their sales figures. they really are that dumb.
The alternative is that MS are annoyed/worried about all the information leaking about WM6 before launch and they simply want to control the release situation.
ivorh said:
Actually that's completely untrue. I think you're thinking of trademarks which do behave in that way. That was the reason for the necessary recent legal cases by Linus over the Linux trademark. There's no such requirement for copyrights or patents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite...the nature in which you forfeit rights is different between copyrights and trademarks, but due diligence is required for both. If a known copyright infringement is not pursued within the statute of limitations, implied license is granted, meaning the infringer can essentially distribute at will.
ivorh said:
Actually that's completely untrue. I think you're thinking of trademarks which do behave in that way. That was the reason for the necessary recent legal cases by Linus over the Linux trademark. There's no such requirement for copyrights or patents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite...the nature in which you forfeit rights is different between copyrights and trademarks, but due diligence is required for both. If a known copyright infringement is not pursued within the statute of limitations, implied license is granted.
No offence guys but Microsoft or the Vendors wouldn't have given crap about the roms here if it wasn't for the idiots (yes you know who you are) pestering the vendors and Microsoft about support for yet to be released roms. Either bugging them with questions on why something doesn't work anymore, how to use something in the new rom (GPS....), or warrenty repair for f'ing up one's device. Not to mention how pissed they must be for the even bigger idiots who contact Vender A and tell them they installed Vendor A rom on Vender B device
Really what it comes down to is if it costs them money they are going to make a stink and handling service calls for hacked/unsupported roms costs them money. Not to mention how much it would piss off Vendor A to spend money enhancing their rom only to have news sites promoting the rom to other Vendor B devices and have people installing it on Vendor B's device.
That's really what this is all about so if there is anyone to blame in all this, don't blame Microsoft or the Vendors, blame those people because if it wasn't for them, the vendors and Microsoft would have given a sh*t and probably just let things be the way they should be.
Maybe an appropriate response would be to overwhelm MS and the Carriers support systems with complaints about slow, non functioning, unstable software and devices.
The Carriers who actually sell most of us our phones should be ashamed of offering such substandard products. The diference between an "XDA-Developers sourced ROM" and the stock ROM on my device at least is enormous. Yet it was achieved by unpaid amateurs, I mean no disrespect to ROM chefs with this statement.
With the Windows update features built in to WM6 maybe there is a mechanism for MS to offer timely updates/fixes direct to the user. These updates could have incorporated "XDA-Developers" inspired enhancements and bug fixes. Sadly I feel this will not now be the case.
Yes, I can understand the global motives of MS in protecting its intelectual property but I cannot perceive any benefit to MS by exerting its right/might in this case.
</RANT>

Is ROM cooking legal?

Just read another post where it was mentioned that technically the different ROM versions floating around on the site are illegal.
And WM6 for free? I'd say that's piracy. You do pay for at least to upgrade from Windows XP to Vista?
When you buy a new computer that comes with an OS, you can't assume that you are entitled for a free upgrade
to OS when ever one is released.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In some sense I can see that this might be true! after all, its well known that this site won't tolerate warez... but its fine for beta/non-beta ROMS to be cooked and made freely available to anyone with compatible devices...
Don't get me wrong... I'm all for it and envy all of our cooks - if I could understand how to do it I would!!! I'm just wondering what the true legalities are?
Please don't shoot me
lots of views on the matter here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=294142&highlight=legal
"And WM6 for free? I'd say that's piracy. You do pay for at least to upgrade from Windows XP to Vista?"
this statement is not really true because ms sell vista and vista upgrades
nor ms or htc or any of the OEM's of the htc devices have ever sold upgrades ms stay out of it 100% htc (pre them selling themselfs) always just made basis roms and given them to the operators to customize and give users free
If it is being sold and we used it without buying, that's illegal, just like the computer situation.
In PPC situation, how can it be legal or illegal when it is not sold in the first place?
"True" legalities are simple: M$ has copyright on this material so though I am not a legal expert of any kind I am sure they will have no trouble proving in court that even simple redistribution of ROMs without any alteration by a non authorized party such as this site is illegal.
Then again, since neither M$ nor the OEMs (not jut HTC) don't bother with updates unless a given device is really unstable so they need to fix some bugs and you can never by a newer OS even if your device supports it I thinks this is basically "fare use".
After all it is a dirty commercial trick to force people to by new hardware at ridiculous prices just to keep the software up to date.
CWKJ said:
In PPC situation, how can it be legal or illegal when it is not sold in the first place?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Violating patents is illegal,while they are not sold. Violating GPL is illegal, while the product covered by GPL is free. So "not sold" means nothing.
You might know that in modern world nobody sells software itself. They sell or give away licenses on its use. When you buy such a software, it is written on the envelope: "By opening blah-blah-blah" and you accept the license this way. It is not a case with my TyTN! I didn't have to accept a license before starting to use the software. Same with firmware of several devices on the market.
If there are no any contractual relationships between me and the owner of the rights on this software, I violate nothing by using it on a way of my choice.
Well, stolen betas is of different kind: the person who first started to distributed it violated NDA or something like. It is known. So I can't disagree it's illegal.
When you download a firmware update from the vendor, you amy have to accept a license. If you have done, then cooking from it may be illegal.
But I see nothing illegal when no an agreement was accepted.
I think the answer is not quite as simple. Is it legal? Well, technically it is not.
A lot of copyright law could and would defend this point.
However in this world of ours, not everything is about the law. Especially when money is involved.
Having MS and HTC simply say that if you want to taste WM6 that you have to buy a new gadget is not illegal. In fact as the owners and the licenser this is completely their right to do. Sh!tty? Sure! But why not? It is their right, and for us to use WM6 because we don't want to pay does NOT make it right.
The fact of the matter is the number of users who will be upgrading to WM6 through cooked ROMs is rather small and honestly not worth their trouble.
They know most people will buy the software legally. They know that most of their serious buyers will be corporations who will buy it legally. AND ultimately, they WANT people to work and spread their software as much as possible.
Sure they are loosing money doing that --very little in the large scheme of things-- but ultimately, they win because they (US) spread knowledge and we create future customers. Since eventually most of us will upgrade hardware and if when we do, we will most likely stick with WM rather than lets say go to Nokia's Symbian.
They are not stupid and this is why they have not tried to shut down XDA Developers outright for even hosting ROM cookers who are obviously working on leaked versions of their software.
the only skin of htc and ms's nose is that people may not replace their phones as fast
but then same would be true for pc's if they too were made not to have os upgraded
operators like orange and tmobile and the likes could not care less
sim unlocking a phone harm them much much more since that imply that you will stop using the service that they make money on
An interesting historical fact: back when home computer was a new concept and Apple and IBM just began their competition Apple made a tactical mistake: They prevented others from duplicating the BIOS of their machines (I don't remember if this was a legal or technical issue, it's been a while since I saw the documentary). They still do it afaik.
The result: "IBM compatible" clones popped up all over the place at a much cheaper prices then the original (in fact who owns "real" IBM today anyway?) which caused the PC architecture to spread and made MACs an endangered species.
It is the same with (desktop) windows: because there are so many cracked versions floating around ever since 3.11 (maybe even before) it gained so much popularity it became almost standard.
So basically M$ owns their success to piracy. After all some people will not by their crap - if they can't get it for free they will use something else, while the major customers (namely corporations, public facilities etc.) would still purchase it legally even if there were no protection measures.
P.S.
agovinoveritas: if you check the 'About' icon in your control panel you will find a nice fat copyright statement. And as copyrights are something you agree to automatically by using a software product (no need to sing / click or even have a warning on the box) MS still has a way of telling you what you can and can not do with the ROM of your device.
MS don't even need that copyright statement. Copyright isn't something that needs to be asserted, it exists regardless.
levenum said:
agovinoveritas: if you check the 'About' icon in your control panel you will find a nice fat copyright statement. And as copyrights are something you agree to automatically by using a software product (no need to sing / click or even have a warning on the box) MS still has a way of telling you what you can and can not do with the ROM of your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, old news. Everybody who is a tech-head in here knows this. But how is that relevant to my statements?
For those savvy people, you know that by the mere fact that you created something, technically you are protected by intellectual copyright law.
However we are drifting from the main point.

someone selling xda-developers free software @ handango!!!!!!

Hi all,
i was googling for tweakui and came a result from handango.com => http://www.handango.com/SoftwareCat...Id=2&N=96806+4294910762&showBreadCrumbs=false
Check this guy is selling the tools he got free here at xda-devs.
the people who made the soft should do something about it...
I've just written to Handango. Please write to them to and get this thief off their books.
I have noticed that your vendor T.N Vietaus Trade (Australia) is selling a number of illegal (ie pirated or stolen IP) products, including Microsoft ROMs for Windows Mobile phones.
Also, he is reselling free products written by members of the xda developers forum at a significant mark up, free software for example being sold for $49.99.
Please ask this vendor to remove this software, or remove it for him.
Kind regards,
vijay555 (moderator at xda-developers.com)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
V
What a ****en Lame ass *****. THat is just the lowest you can go to, selling stuff that is offered to us here for free. **** him, ive written to them also to get this ***** from selling stuff on there. Good eye and thanks for making everyone aware of this.
I've sent handago an email as well. Keep the emails going.
what is the email?
Found the HQ phone number, will try to call (cant call anymore sorry) but will need more info on this like what app and other stuff that you can give
305 NE Loop 820
Suite 600
Hurst, Texas 76053
Corporate Office: 817-280-0129
Fax: 817-280-9628
He has ebooks in http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/category.aspx?bcatid=1129&av=14-275257
And same app's come up in the Microsoft handango page that is linked to the Microsoft Windows Mobile Product page Site http://microsoft.handango.com/PlatformTopSoftware.jsp?siteId=75&platformId=2&title=T.N+Vietaus+Trade+(Australia)&authorId=1811375
Mod needed
Can a mod post this in other forums so that everyone that has made a app can check if their app is in the selling list
Email of the supposed developer tnvietaus AT gmail dot com
And if im doing something wrong in giving this out, this info is on the web
This is insane.
haha I just left HORRIBLE reviews warning people on all of the links you just provided Mike.. lol.
I also emailed HIM... and Handango.
no, I just let them know that this stuff was available for free ...
The thing that IRKS me is he doesnt explain that there is MORE to just downloading and running the update to these.. so alot of people are probably ruining their devices.
FYI, this is one instance where the DMCA can be used to your benefit (if you are one of the software authors).
Do NOT write to Handango, et al, complaining that someone is selling free software.
Do write to the resellers and state, factually, that this person is selling software that *you* wrote without your permission or authorization. Also state, very factually, that you want the software pulled and any monies charged for the software to either be refunded to the purchasers or forwarded to you.
What would also help out is if all the software authors were to allow one person (perhaps vijay would be a good choice as he is both a mod and a software author) to act on their behalf so there is a single point of contact for XDA.
Tell me the address of Handago (and Microsoft, If I have read and understand well) and I also send an email.
Just a thought: many here (maybe me too?) searchin' and using no purchased software, and therefore one of us (or one of those having this "habit", if you like more saying so) has found not violating any legal or moral law. World goes around...
Gubbài.
He is selling over 90 titles, and they are ALL available here for free just about.. he is selling the dang HTC X-button for 24 dollars! lol.
derma, I think everyone here is realistic about software availability and software use... read around for my personal views on warez etc.
The board however has a strict policy on banning for distributing warez.
But, it takes some particularly spiteful cojones to steal someone else's work and then put your name on it and sell it. And then selling at an absurd markup... come on. There's reasonable cheekiness, but that's just taking the micky.
V
Understanding doesn't mean accepting
vijay555 said:
derma, I think everyone here is realistic about software availability and software use... read around for my personal views on warez etc.
The board however has a strict policy on banning for distributing warez.
But, it takes some particularly spiteful cojones to steal someone else's work and then put your name on it and sell it. And then selling at an absurd markup... come on. There's reasonable cheekiness, but that's just taking the micky.
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to explain my position about this.
As I wrote on the title of this post, I figure out what it can be the reasoning of this person but meanwhile I absolutely don't accept what he did (or it's better saying "what he didn't do" 'cos what he's selling it's not stuff of his own).
My thought doesn't want to be a provocation, at least not a gratuitous provocation, but a simple-soft thinking about a hard problem: copy-right (and use-wrong).
Obviously this is a real theft, more odious than that "normally" made to the detriment of that author of the software who sell his creation having the conceptual rights to do that. In this case we can see instead a double somersault: he sell something not of his own that originally is (was) free.
Hope being plain.
PS: "cojones"?! Maravilloso! ¡Hasta la revolución, siempre!
Gubbài.
It isn't just the markup, its the flagrant lack of informing people of the consequences of attempting to use those warez without having ample experience with their device. He just says 'For expert. Use at your own risk' he doesn't say .. 'If you don't know what you are doing your phone is dead.. d .. e .. a .. d' .. I feel bad for the people who have purchased these and tried to run them not knowing about unlocking and what not.. it's a shame
OMG, another one.
http://shop.my-symbian.com/Platform...0&productType=2&platformId=2&productId=208881
Where can i find the tweakUI here?
hanmin said:
OMG, another one.
http://shop.my-symbian.com/Platform...0&productType=2&platformId=2&productId=208881
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Review added saying it's free here.

Why hasnt Microsoft done anything about this site yet?

i mean, everything on this site is pretty much microsoft, which should create some copyright issues.
they are just happy to find a place where winmo doesn't get bashed constantly
duude said:
i mean, everything on this site is pretty much microsoft, which should create some copyright issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL, your first post and you have a pop at this site?
You dont work for MS do you
GREAT first post.
anyway.
They tolerate it because we don't personally host anything and yes, we do make windows mobile better.
Also, this site actively opposes software theft, (warez and others like it,) which is the bulk of any copyright problems. It spreads goodwill towards Microsoft, believe it or not; if users have problems with standard Microsoft software, they don't have to just sit there and be unhappy, it can be tweaked. By doing so, people are happier with their Microsoft-driven equipment, and more likely to keep using it than changing to something else. There are countless people on this site who would tell you that without this site, they might not be using a Windows-driven phone.
It is also free tech-support for Microsoft, which saves them loads of money.
LOL duude...are u an attorney or do u own an iphone?
m$ knows better to keep this site alive. its their faults we are tweakin up and makin it better. beside...you never know...this draws a lot and i mean a lot of ppl towards m$. so i m pretty much sure the revenue keeps em' happy
yesod7 said:
There are countless people on this site who would tell you that without this site, they might not be using a Windows-driven phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One here!!!
microsoft never sold wm to any end user
and this site never taken part in porting wm to a device that dident came with it
more because of the close to impossibility of doing so
so as ms still get their licensense from the manufactors
and better rep with users who can get more out of their devices then just
depending on what the manfucators give before they forget about older devices
and move on to their new stuff
more wm phone owners keep getting new wm devices rather then moving to iphones or symbian devices so
it helps ms out alot in their quest of getting a larger % of the market
Plus, along with the free tech ehlp, the improving of current phones, we all know new htc phones will be tweaked cooked and stuff, so buy another phone. so XDA not only saves tehm money, but actually gains them money
It's because of this site that I'm looking at the Windows Mobile platform for my next phone rather than traditional Nokia, Sony Ericsson (other than x1), or even the iPhone..... actually come to think of it, without the exisitence of this site EVER, I would get an iPhone 3G right away.
you will see that in the coming future microsoft will be incorporating programs and devs that were created through this site to their platform. There was once a time when microsoft tried to shut it down when they realised that the site actually brings more people to microsoft and keeps them there.
LOL! I was going to post something else, but I'm pretty sure everybody has already said it, or thinks it! To much good comes from this site! Think about it, how many users of this site are now WM users for good and will always be sold on the next best WM platform because of this site.
yesod7 said:
Also, this site actively opposes software theft, (warez and others like it,) which is the bulk of any copyright problems. It spreads goodwill towards Microsoft, believe it or not; if users have problems with standard Microsoft software, they don't have to just sit there and be unhappy, it can be tweaked. By doing so, people are happier with their Microsoft-driven equipment, and more likely to keep using it than changing to something else. There are countless people on this site who would tell you that without this site, they might not be using a Windows-driven phone.
It is also free tech-support for Microsoft, which saves them loads of money.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, that's it.
TheChampJT said:
LOL! I was going to post something else, but I'm pretty sure everybody has already said it, or thinks it! To much good comes from this site! Think about it, how many users of this site are now WM users for good and will always be sold on the next best WM platform because of this site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amen to that!
Why haven't they done anything?
because nobody there is smoking crack
Would you close down a site that gets people talking about your products ? that is full of people writing programs that enhances the usability of your products? that's a great place to see some ideas you might steal for later versions of your OS.
This is free R&D!
duude said:
i mean, everything on this site is pretty much microsoft, which should create some copyright issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alas, I saw this differently with others. I think the question is very out of topic since this is an All-HTC-Devices forum, not an M$ WM forum. It's only 'coincidence' that after these years, HTC always used WM as their OS.
If HTC decided in the future that they will build their own OS, or maybe use Android, then it may trigger M$ to reconsider its stance against this forum. Especially, when we -as always- try to improve our experience with the devices, do it by porting some parts (drivers/softwares) from WM to other OS, or vice versa. Then the issue may be valid.
Btw, I don't know but do you all think it's safe -legally and/or morally- to port other vendor/ODM's part (drivers/softwares/etc) into our HTC devices? I ask this because I saw many attempts already...
I don't know the exact number of people on this site, but I do know that there are a whole lot of people on this site. My point for that last sectence is "would you destroy a site that has FREE workers helping your company out to better there products and gain more money"
Yes, we might receive applications before they are release, but honestly where do you really think we receive those from uuuummmm?
So again, if I was a big company I would never touch this site because I will pass my software to this site let eveyone play with it and then I would know where all the bugs are at. So then I will fix it and then sale it.
There might be alot of poeple on this site but I think MS has a lot more customers that don't even know that this site is even alive.
There you go my 2 cents.
gsessons said:
I don't know the exact number of people on this site, but I do know that there are a whole lot of people on this site. My point for that last sectence is "would you destroy a site that has FREE workers helping your company out to better there products and gain more money"
Yes, we might receive applications before they are release, but honestly where do you really think we receive those from uuuummmm?
So again, if I was a big company I would never touch this site because I will pass my software to this site let eveyone play with it and then I would know where all the bugs are at. So then I will fix it and then sale it.
There might be alot of poeple on this site but I think MS has a lot more customers that don't even know that this site is even alive.
There you go my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and if the truth be known, they (M$) are happy that the masses dont know., in truth, the people on this site contain more knowledge and expertise than all of m$ combined as far as HTC handsets are concerned and how to tweak and tune the software to ACTUALLY work. it could be perceived as (truth) the Big companies are just mass clearing houses of useless data they can sell for a profit. how many of us came here for the first time only looking for useable software programs? how many of us came here for the first time trying to find a solution to an OEM problem?
M$ has found a truly unique forum in the world of r&d., although probably more out of frustration than than anything else, the majority of talented people here could teach this stuff to most of the employees at m$ about these devices and how they work and why.
I would be very surprised if they didnt have a staff of several people working there monitoring and testing to roms and software packages developed or tweaked through this site. they would have to be unbelieveably arrogant to think this is a bad thing for business, and we all know who one of the richest men and companies in the world is dont we. he didnt just fall off the truck so to speak, he understands..............economics!
With all of that in mind can anyone understand why pocket development is not possible on Visual studio express editions (free).
Isn't that a shoot on the foot? I think so.
I think that a platform with a lot of developers is much more appeling, and then seel more. Only a opinion from someone that will never buy a iphone.

Is this the end of XDA-Developers?

Everywhere I go, I see the following message:
"... links removed due to legal complaint from Microsoft. ..."
They finally got P.Oed enough by the success of this forum and by the fact that you guys are doing everything they can't or won't.
Well, it's a sad day for us all :-(
In the hopes that this forum keeps on doing what it's doing, I say this.
Well done guys! keep on the good work !
And thank you for hearing my rants
I'm not sure why at all it would be considered the end of XDA-developers. Microsoft will still release wm6.5 no doubt so It is just matter of time until WM6.5 is released and then cooking on wm6.5 will start again. Just right now the movie is on pause
And WM 6.1 can continue to be tweaked to our heart's desire.
oh and I also happen to have b16b's WM6.5 if you want that....
I am sure it's a very credibly crafted hoax.
Of course Admins don't want any trouble or harrasement from anyone (certainly such mighty legal giants like Msoft) so they did what all of you would do - take a precautionary measures
Let'em sort it out.
Its just a temporary disturbance in the force far from end of xda LOL
And now I have utopykzebulon's v6 WM6.5 josh's WM6.5 also
"Is this the end of xda-developers?"
uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...no.
Not even close.
Same thing happened when wm6.1 was leaked.
/thread
dhob187 said:
Everywhere I go, I see the following message:
"... links removed due to legal complaint from Microsoft. ..."
They finally got P.Oed enough by the success of this forum and by the fact that you guys are doing everything they can't or won't.
Well, it's a sad day for us all :-(
In the hopes that this forum keeps on doing what it's doing, I say this.
Well done guys! keep on the good work !
And thank you for hearing my rants
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a hoax...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=492791
This thread has been up for a couple of days now...
op, it's not even close to the end! xda will continue on rocking!!
Same thing happened when pre-released WM5.0 builds leaked on XDA-Dev a long time ago. The website lost all it's FTP files to Microsoft back then because of that and yet here it is, still up and running smoothly.
I have strong doubts that xda-dev will go down. Besides, it's not in the best of HTC or Microsoft's interests that they do so. A strong community like the one on xda-dev brings lots of advantages to them. For starters, there's the publicity that they're getting out of this, then there's the strong client base for their devices and OS for which one of the major reasons of purchase is Windows Mobile modability and the advantages this website brings in high-level customization of their own device. Which is what most users like to do: to get the most out of their hard-earned money. And last, but by no means least, there's also the potential feedback on their applications and OS that they can get from xda-dev which might help for future improvements. As for the leaks, i'm sure they really have nothing serious against them, as such leaks keep interest in devices alive. Of course, there are limits to this, as the boys need to keep their pre-release material safe and also incite interest in newer devices, but still... Backwards support is always good for PR.
I can remember when WM5 was in Beta, I added the fix to the Typhoon (orange c500 rom) shortly before it was taken off the FTP... my name is still on the "where has WM5 gone" text file on the root of the ftp those were the days eh?
think of it as a temporary set back... technically roms are no longer hosted on XDA anyways.
Hah, no way is it the end, the links should be back up soon after the admins fix this hoax stuff up. Seriously, the guy who sent the fraudulent emails is such an idiot!
rosebud said:
I can remember when WM5 was in Beta, I added the fix to the Typhoon (orange c500 rom) shortly before it was taken off the FTP... my name is still on the "where has WM5 gone" text file on the root of the ftp those were the days eh?
think of it as a temporary set back... technically roms are no longer hosted on XDA anyways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, they're not. Again, since that little FTP incident. Those were the days...
dhob187 said:
Everywhere I go, I see the following message:
"... links removed due to legal complaint from Microsoft. ..."
They finally got P.Oed enough by the success of this forum and by the fact that you guys are doing everything they can't or won't.
Well, it's a sad day for us all :-(
In the hopes that this forum keeps on doing what it's doing, I say this.
Well done guys! keep on the good work !
And thank you for hearing my rants
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The end is on year 2012 my friend, LOL
And as somebody earlier mentioned this is a very strong WM community, here you can find som stats about xda-developers: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=491608
Cheers
P.S. Be Positive
Might not be such a bad thing anyway
Even if there was an end in sight for xda-dev, another forum would spring up elsewhere to take its place. And that might not be such a bad thing...
xda-dev is one of the most hostile, unfriendly forums I frequent. Incredibly useful, with infinitely valuable resources, but senior members are often arrogant and intentionally unhelpful, and mods are heavy-handed, closing down threads unnecessarily at the drop of a hat.
Microsoft and HTC in good terms with xda?
There has recently been much anxiety in the Windows Mobile ROM cooking world over at XDA-Developers after the web site started receiving take down notices from some-one purporting to be from Microsoft. The practice of making updated firmware for older devices have always been borderline illegal, and the similar practice on the desktop (e.g placing a pirated copy of Windows Vista on a XP machine) would never have been tolerated.
It later turned out the take down notices were rather dubious in origin, and did not really conform to the format used by Microsoft. Tweakers.net, a Dutch web site, decided to take the bull by the horns and ask Microsoft and HTC directly what they thought of the situation.
Maarten Sonneveld, from Microsoft Netherlands was very clear. "What is happening there, adjusting ROMs is illegal. They go to get the intellectual property of others." He however, Pilate-like, absolved Microsoft from any responsibility to address the crime. "This intellectual property is not with us. The ROMs are owned by manufacturers or providers, if the branded versions. We supply only the OS."
That leaves the ball in HTC’s court. HTC however had no plans to squash one of the biggest selling points of their phones. "What happens there should not", says HTC Benelux director Mark Moons. "But XDA-Developers is the largest and most active community of Windows Mobile developers. We can not live with ‘em and we can not live without’ em."
The outcome of these statements is therefore than an uneasy truce exists, leaving XDA-Developers to continue their exploits in peace, but always with a gun pointed at their head if either Microsoft or HTC changes their minds. If this were to happen however it is likely that both would see a dramatic loss of market share, as many regulars who only buy HTC Smartphones, abandon the platform in droves.
We hope therefore, as is the case now, that cooler minds continue to prevail.
VIA: wmpoweruser.com

Categories

Resources