Re: Jail for seller of illegal Xbox chips

["Ian Lowe" <ian@xxxxxxx>]

From: "Mark Hetherington" <mark.egroups@xxxxxxx>
>
> The XBox hardware, as all games consoles, is heavily subsidised by the
> manufacturer. The console industry operates on a similar principle to
> mobile phones and set top boxes where the hardware is subsidised to
> promote an installed base with the subscriptions and extras providing
> the actual revenue and hopefully profit. In the case of consoles, game
> are the primary revenue source for return on investment.

I honestly could not care less about the terrible hardships of a company
with the morals of Microsoft, or Sony for that matter. Their business model
is flawed, and relies on a perversion of any sensible concept of property
to
become valid.

I am firmly of the opinion that if you or I go out and buy an item of
clothing/food/hardware/stationery, it becomes yours to do with as you
please, whether that is to crush it, put it in a cupboard, never to be seen
again, or even (gasp!) to use it "as the manufacturer intended".

The fact that these products are being sold at a dramatic loss doesn't make
me go all fuzzy with goodness and want to rush out to buy the games: The
XBox as it is being used by the members of this group would still be great
at full manufacture cost + profit. What other Divx Capable, Network enabled
media player with an onboard hard drive can you get? if Microsoft or other
manufacturers can't see what has been done with these platforms, and
develop
products to fit that niche with a sustainable business model, more fool
them.

As for the political side of things, you may wish to take a "can't
change
anything, so won't try" approach, I'd rather look at the positive
effects of
lobbying by groups like Privacy International and Stand.org.uk, and the
fact
that both my MP and MSP seem open to being convinced on a range of issues,
and make my voice heard. The UK had considerable latitude in how to
implement EU directives like the recent Copyright one, and seems to have
only made a cock-up of it, because of the particularly underhanded way it
was introduced. I am sure with enough people badgering their MPs, our
implementation would have been much more limp.

At any rate, In most cases, I firmly believe that MEPs are only making
these
draconian laws in the first place because the slick voice of the content
industry is the only voice they are even hearing!

I.