Free thoughts…
In the next days some people will release
what they will call the ultimate unlocking tool
for all iphones/ipods.

While that is a nice proof of concept and a very
good team work, I wish to tell you what’s
going to happen.

Since a real jailbreak is not (yet) possible,
they opted for a software upgrade, total
internat firmware modification and
custom firmware.

For me, a real hack works this way:
you upgrade to 2.0, run a program
and in 4-6 minutes the phone works.
That’s because 4 to 6 minutes are needed
to boot the phone a couple of times
and modify a few bytes here and there.

If you remember, the first iPhone came out
in June 2007, ZiPhone came out in february 2008.
Why so ? There were already ways to
unlock and activate the iPhone, and I used them
but were way too buggy and difficult for the
unexperienced user.

So I used the publicly available tools as a basis
to craft a tool to do things safely, quickly and
properly. It was just a command line tool which
did what I needed.

As new firmwares came out I had to totally
rewrite all the tools used for it to work.
When someone (iRev) saw it he pushed me
to release it and since I partially used
opensource tools I decided to make it
opensource too.

I have been accused of “stealing”.
In an opensource world that word is
pure nonsense.
Did every linux ditribution steal ?
There are many programs around
which used ZiPhone as a basis.
Did I complain?

IMHO, opensource is great because
everyone can take the code, improve it,
and re-release it in opensource form.
That ‘cycle’ allows things to constantly
improve based on people tastes and needs.

About the ‘soon to be released’ hacks,
think about the playstation or online games;
you can crack them, but you won’t be able
to play online with legit buyers.

Now think: what is an offline iPhone?
A paperweight.
That’s what you’re gonna have
if (WHEN) apple decides to push a button.
And this time they will.

Apple did an impressive work.
Not only technically but marketing wise.
They have all my admiration and
I am glad I contributed to all this.

About me I will continue being a ‘user’ first
and as usual I will try to improve things I use
and to share with others so they can further
improve things.

If I can, obviously, and if and when I feel to.

Be hungry,
Zibri
http://status.ziphone.org/2008/07/free-thoughts.html