back to article Windows Phone 7 gets unlocked

The first jailbreaking app is out for Windows Phone 7, enabling the installation of unsigned applications, which can now be developed in Visual Basic too. The VB addition is from Microsoft, and means developers can create Silverlight apps using Visual Basic, get them signed and run them on a phone. But developers can also now …

COMMENTS

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  1. AC34
    Headmaster

    'Rouge' applications

    They'll be the ones trying to get past the security mechanisms with a coy glance..

  2. Christopher W
    Coat

    Pah to WP7, a pox on it

    The first person to develop a 'translator' so I can run all of my (purchased!) WinMo v6.* apps on a WP7 handset gets a gold-plated cookie from me, and perhaps even a donation. I'm fed up with MS dumping an entire decade of platform back-compatibility just because it didn't suit them.

    I'd wager they could've brought WP7 to market with an XP Mode-style compatibility layer, which is why I found it odd they aren't offering legacy support like they do with all of their other OSes. I won't buy a WP7 handset, irrespective of how pretty they are, until I can properly run WM6 apps on one.

    ...Or someone does a decent community port of WM6.5 to a WP7 device... (here's lookin' at you, XDA-Devs)

    Mine's the one with a battered but perfectly functional Touch HD and HTC Hermes in the pocket

    1. Wize

      Even if they let you port from an old version of Windows Mobile...

      ...you are still locked to that operating system.

      Its why I don't like buying phone apps. Two years after you get the phone and pondering an upgrade you feel a little locked in to that one type of phone to keep everything working.

      6 months and its bye bye Nokia for me.

    2. Danny 14
      Stop

      not really

      noone forced you to buy a win7 phone. It was obvious from the outset that it wouldnt run previous stuff.

      1. I'm Brian and so's my wife
        Headmaster

        Noone forced you to buy a Win7 phone?

        Why would Noone do that? Did they put a gun to your head?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Joke

          Not Noone again... the bastard!

          Everywhere you look Peter's starting shit on the interwebz, but forcing people to buy Win7 phones is a new low... even for him.

          http://blog.pennlive.com/thrive/2007/12/PeterNoonePicForBlog.jpg

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Already done

    I unlocked my WP7 phone the other day so I can play in Visual Studio 2010 and get something running as a proof of concept. If it all works then I'll pay the appstore fee, even though it's corporate internal stuff I'm looking at.

    There should be a free unlock for MSDN subscribers considering what we pay each year!

  4. Mage Silver badge

    Windows Mobile 7?

    But does anyone care any more?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Paris Hilton

      lol

      People clicked thumbs down because of the inclusion of the words "any more"

  5. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge
    Gates Horns

    Opt-In, Opt-Out

    "trusting users with their own security has comprehensively failed to work on the desktop"

    I'd say a large problem is that most desktops and applications are (or have been) opt-out of security by default or by design. Many applications do something beyond their basic premise which invites rogue usage; browsers and email clients which auto-run applications and provide inviting back-doors. Security settings are also far less granular than they should be; allowing all or nothing, sand-boxing is either on or off, if it exists at all.

    The biggest problem I find is that desktop security gets in the way so much that users are driven to turn it off. It's the way it's implemented, not the users, which are mainly to fault.

  6. TeeCee Gold badge
    FAIL

    "....just as long as not too many people start using it."

    On WP7? You can take that as given.

    Even if both of the users were to do this I think that's manageable......

  7. Mark Fenton

    Android...

    You said <<Android tries to sidestep the problem by providing a tick box to switch off the security mechanisms that prevent rogue applications being installed, but what proportion of users have ticked it we don't know.>>

    At least on my HTC Desire, you have to find the check box and select before you can install non signed apps. The default is to not allow it.

    1. M Gale

      Same on an el cheapo ZTE Racer.

      As the title says.

      Also while I'm here: "Apple's iPhone, the most famously-locked-down of the platforms, has no viruses or Trojans to worry about..."

      No viruses or trojans that we know about, you mean? How long did it take Apple to find and remove that sneaky flashlight app from their store that was allowing people to press a secret button combo and get tethering on their phones? Did Apple's infamous close scrutiny spot that, or is Apple's infamous close scrutiny a whole crock of shit that's more focussed on whether you mention a competitor's platform in your app?

      You really think Apple would be able to find a competently-made trojan before the developer pressed the detonate button? And so what if they hit the kill switch? The amount of money gleaned from getting a hundred thousand (let alone a few million) phones to dial a premium rate number would probably pay for development of the next sneaky trojan.

      Thanks, but I'd rather be able to look at a list of permissions. "This fart app requires: Location (Coarse, network based. Fine, GPS). Services that cost you money (make and receive calls, send and receive SMS messages). Full Internet access. Change contents of SD card. Adjust system settings. Prevent phone from going into standby."

      It's not 100%, but then what is? Apple's curated iStore? You're having a giraffe, surely?

  8. alun phillips
    Troll

    Thank Christ for MS's vigilance

    So if you jailbreak it you can install software that has not been through microsofts stringent quality checks, having suffered enough from software that has been through MS's quality checks windows Me, Vista, etc etc you'd have to be a brave man to throw them away

  9. JaitcH
    FAIL

    Cracking MS was less for demand and more because to prove MS is as bad as Apple

    No doubt the jailbreakers did this, not for demand or OS popularity, rather just to prove MS is no better than iOS or numerous other locked down platforms.

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