Jailbreaker Decides to Move to Windows Phone 7, Microsoft Delighted

In a tweet earlier today, Microsoft seemed to encourage hacker Geohot to try his hand at jailbreaking Windows Phone 7.

George Hotz, better known as Geohot, the hacker famed for being the first to jailbreak the iPhone and his involvement in hacking the PS3, may be moving to the Windows Phone 7 scene.

Hotz is currently embroiled in a lawsuit brought against him by Sony over his release of the Root Keys of the PS3. Before that, he spent years jailbreaking whatever the most recent iPhone updates were, keeping on top of Apple’s attempt to take back control of its devices. To say he’s had rocky relationships with tech companies is an understatement. Apparently, he’s had enough with the way he’s been treated.

Yesterday he posted a link to an Engadget article about how well Microsoft has been treating their budding hacker community, meeting with them personally and giving them snazzy t-shirts, and a post calling it “perhaps a more appropriate way to deal with jailbreakers,” and going on to say “I’m going out to buy a Windows 7 phone.”

Whether that was a joke or not, Microsoft took note.

Brandon Watson, Director of Developer Experience for Windows Phone, got on Twitter only hours later and posted the above Tweet.

In late November last year, hacker team CheveronWP7 released a semi-jailbreak of the Windows Phone, which allowed for the running of homebrew applications. They were contacted by Microsoft, and after a frank discussion, were thanked for pointing out a hole in the phone’s security, which has now been fixed.

That, along with the tweet to Geohot, seems to point towards a very hacker-friendly Microsoft. Perhaps it sees it as a way of drawing more users to the Windows Phone 7, or maybe it just wants to take advantage of the good PR this friendly policy will get the company.

I could use a new phone. Maybe I should threaten to hack a Windows Phone, too.

Source: DRS via N4G