Hotz in Hot Water with Sony but Microsoft Cools Him Down
posted Sunday Jan 23, 2011 by Nicholas DiMeo
Let's all raise our glasses to a guy known as George "Geohot" Hotz. Some of you may know this infamous Internet deviant as one of the key guys who hacked the Apple iOS and aided in showcasing the jailbreaking process to the masses.
More recently, some of you may know him as the guy that Sony has taken to court. After learning about Sony's move to take out OtherOS functions to further secure the PS3, Hotz decided enough was enough and released exploits and security flaws that allow a user to reinstall OtherOS. Hotz has even disclosed the PS3's security codes, which was finally the straw that broke Sony's back, and has caused Activision to take action on the PlayStation Network.
So, what does all this bad news mean for Hotz? Hit the break.
Well, in court, we're unsure as of yet. Microsoft, however, has apparently had their eye on Hotz' blog for some time. In fact, after Hotz posted on his blog this week that he had intentions of purchasing a Windows Phone 7 device, a Microsoft rep named Brandon Watson replied with,
@geohot if you want to build cool stuff on #wp7, send me email and the team will give you a phone - let dev creativity flourish #wp7dev
There you have it. A PR move and shots at other developers all in one swift motion. Granted, nobody is trying to jailbreak WinPho 7 because every carrier is going to have at least one device in the coming months. However, it will be cool to see some ideas that Hotz may have for the platform. Moreover it'll be interesting to see if Microsoft pays him a consulting fee to find and report bugs, exploits and errors that he may come across as he tears about the operating system.
More power to you, Geohot! The Internet salutes you!
