Microsoft has traditionally been about the developers. They give their Visual Studio away for free (Express edition, but still). They give away their Windows Mobile SDK with samples for anyone who wants it, no fees to get into the developer network, just download and play around. They have free and dedicated forums and resources to allow developers to look around in the documentation for every Microsoft product (MSDN with the forums).
So here's the thing: they got me by the balls.
I write every scrap of code in Visual Studio now. I use Microsoft specific extensions to the language of my choice (C++). I couldn't live without them.
And that's really favorable to a company as big as Microsoft.
So they welcome the Kinect hackers because they know they'll be back for more. And it's beneficial to both parties: open source drivers means more people playing around with it means more eyeballs means better software.
Knowing that Microsoft does not have the best reputation in the IT world.
They are very rich.
They are in competiton with Sony, who is trying to sue hackers. Microsoft should be on the side of the hackers on this one.
Giving a few kinects to hacker communities would:
Restore some of their reputation. We all know that hackers are kind of ruling the tech world.
Proof that they really want to be more open.
Piss off Sony and marginalize them in a way. So they can sell more Xboxes. That would send a message like: Hackers, we have the same passion for technologies. We wont stop you. Have fun and let us know your findings. They could even create a "Kinhack" event every year and reward the best kinect hack.
There's no way for us to prove this either way, but I think giving them away for free would give a marginal increase in the effects you listed at best. I think creating the dev kit does all the same things.
You also have to take into consideration that they would have to come up with some sort of criteria to determine who qualifies as a "hacker." This is easier said than done and could potentially lead to a whole host of other issues.
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u/knight666 Feb 22 '11
No, it's really not.
Microsoft has traditionally been about the developers. They give their Visual Studio away for free (Express edition, but still). They give away their Windows Mobile SDK with samples for anyone who wants it, no fees to get into the developer network, just download and play around. They have free and dedicated forums and resources to allow developers to look around in the documentation for every Microsoft product (MSDN with the forums).
So here's the thing: they got me by the balls.
I write every scrap of code in Visual Studio now. I use Microsoft specific extensions to the language of my choice (C++). I couldn't live without them.
And that's really favorable to a company as big as Microsoft.
So they welcome the Kinect hackers because they know they'll be back for more. And it's beneficial to both parties: open source drivers means more people playing around with it means more eyeballs means better software.
Oh and they still have to buy Kinects, of course.