You don't know me, and I don't (really) know you, but I'm hoping that in the deluge of email you're likely to get from angry, illiterate youth railing against "the Man" you might be able to include another point-of-view in any update to your Droid X review.
Motorola's "recent" (02-10-2010, I believe) comments in a forum regarding encryption and locking of the bootloader has many Android fanpeeps up in arms, more or less literally. Numerous accusations and perceptions of conspiracy abound, and not only are the interwebs filled with the few angered people, so is IRC.
However...I don't personally think this is an offense that deserves cries to request Motorola leave the OHA (Open Handset Alliance), as there are actually a couple pretty good reasons why they might decide to encrypt and lock the bootloader.
I don't think that it's too much to ask that a company be allowed to utilize technology designed for safer computing. We're all aware of the current panic surrounding "cyberwar"; cyberextortion and cybertheft are more accurate terms, but let's move on. I don't think that Motorola is part of some GIGANTIC CONSPIRACY to replace our beloved Android phones with unthinking, unfeeling iClones. At worst, Motorola is working with Verizon in an attempt to maximize profits at the expense of innovation.
This isn't new territory, we've seen this time and time again in the last decade from companies that should know better.
Verizon's announcement of Skype on Android: completely neutered.
Apple's repeated rejection of any and all apps which might possibly offer new functionality (or pr0n, besides Safari).
In any case, there is no shortage of examples we can all cite ad nauseuem which leave us feeling disenfranchised and disappointed after shelling out wads of cash for our beloved gadgets; not to mention the incessant fees for monthly access!
(Has anyone else ever calculated what percentage of their net income goes just to internet ACCESS each month?)
However, let's be gracious and assume for the moment that their motives are less sullied. Let's assume that the only reason they're locking and/or encrypting the bootloader is to prevent warranty return that could be prevented.
FINE: give us a method to opt-out of the warranty and keys to allow unlocking and/or safely flashing custom ROMs. WE DON'T CARE! For those who will be dissuaded by the inability to return a product they have knowingly broken...so be it.
I personally can take care of myself and my gadgets; I knowingly engage in practices that might damage it beyond repair. However, in the process, I've learned an AWFUL lot about how NOT to do so. And I've learned some pretty good tips and tricks for getting things to run smoothly. one such tip is to wipe the shipped rom and immediately replace with cyanogenmod.
For ME, this is how I want my phone to work.
There is a social change at work these days, a Revolution if you will...with iOS, BBOS, Palm (?) and other Mobile Operating Systems, a user must *learn* how to work the OS. With Android and Android alone (so far) the power user shapes the OS to their needs. You can stare, you can give me the fish-eye (my wife does), but my "phone" is increasingly becoming an extension of ME.
It might be weird, but it's happening.
No one can tell me what works best for me. Only I decide that. If I wanted an iPhone, I'd buy one, but I don't want to live in a walled garden no matter how fun it is to visit disneyland. I want to live and breathe in a place that *I* shape, however *I* want.
Finally, you were almost bankrupt a couple years ago due to an inability to grow and adjust to the marketplace. You could do yourself a MAJOR favor by embracing the "hackers". I know that hackers only comprise, at BEST, a very very very minor portion of your sales...but we are also the best evangelists; we travel the world, we push the boundaries of what is possible, and we tell everyone we meet about the fantastic things we're able to do...because we have the freedom.
Please, please, PLEASE consider providing tools to allow hackers to fully customize and personalize their phones. It's as easy as registering a given phone as a "dev phone" and voiding the warranty. I don't mind, and I'm sure most others like me wouldn't mind either.
--Nate Olsen
"Gotta count the atoms! Conservation of mass...It's the Law!"
--Homer Jay Simpson
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