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ON THIS DAY
EDITORS' BLOG
Last Updated: Monday, 17 December 2007, 11:02 GMT
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
Microsoft puts upgrade in a spin
Preparing for transfer: The painful process begins
Microsoft make it unnecessarily difficult to upgrade from an Xbox 360
to the Elite, says Bill Thompson.
I'm an indulgent father, as any of my friends will attest, and I'm
also a bit of a gadget freak, so it is little surprise that my son was
the lucky recipient of a cool black Xbox 360 Elite on his recent
birthday.
He has been an Xbox user since the original console launched in 2002,
moving to the much more powerful 360 when it came out last year,
enjoying games like Oblivion and Halo 3 and spending a lot of time on
the online service, Xbox Live.
Now that Microsoft has started offering full game and film downloads
from the Live Marketplace it seemed like a good idea to upgrade, since
the Elite sports a reasonably sized 120Gb hard drive compared to the
frankly embarrassing 20Gb of the original.
Having two consoles means that multi-player games will be a lot more
fun when his friends come over, and may even give me a chance to
improve my own rather minimal Halo skills and attempt the game in
something other than "dorky dad" mode.
Unfortunately we haven't yet been able to experience the new console
in all its HD glory because we're waiting to transfer the game save
files, themes, arcade games, episodes of Red v Blue and all the other
stuff that Max has accumulated on the hard drive of his old console.
t trashes it, just in case you might be evil enough to want to keep
it as a safe backup or access a saved game on the old console
Bill Thompson
There's little point in setting up the new one without all of this
stuff, and no point transferring Max's Xbox Live account onto the
bigger machine until he can use it fully.
We can't just get on with the job because despite the fact that the
Xbox 360 is bristling with USB sockets - you can even plug your iPod
into the thing - and has an Ethernet port for network connectivity
there is no way to get the two machines to talk to each other without
a "magic" cable.
This is a special cable that you have to send away for by printing off
a form and posting a letter.
It isn't even just a simple connection cable: You have to remove your
20Gb drive from your old Xbox, take the 120Gb drive from your new
Xbox, plug the 20Gb drive into your new Xbox, plug the cable into the
back - but not in the front - port on your new Xbox, plug the cable?
it goes on and on and on.
And the process can take an hour or more, warns the Microsoft website,
even for a paltry 20Gb of data.
Let's compare the process with buying a new Macintosh computer to
replace an existing Mac. When you turn on your new purchase it asks
you if you've got a Mac already and offers to clone it, copying files
and settings simply, easily and quickly.
It is simple - when my friend Isabel dropped her Macbook and cracked
the screen the day before a trip to China she managed to copy the
whole system onto a new computer while we ate pizza together.
Transfer process
And if you copy your Mac then the old one is unchanged, so as long as
you follow software licensing terms you can carry on using it.
Not the Xbox 360, though, because once your data has been copied from
the old to the new drive the transfer process erases the contents of
your old drive.
That's right. It trashes it, just in case you might be evil enough to
want to keep it as a safe backup or access a saved game on the old
console.
Microsoft has decided not to allow you to do this, so you had better
hope that your new drive doesn't have a manufacturing fault.
Even when you've done the transfer a lot of the stuff you copy will
not work properly.
Arcade games and TV shows are transferred, but the licenses that allow
you to play them are apparently associated with the serial number of
the console, so they won't play on your new machine unless you are
actually online and connected to Xbox Live. And any film rentals will
simply not be moved.
Oh, and there's one last insult; the cable you get has been specially
designed for the purpose, so you're supposed to use it once and then
throw it away - or rather, dispose of it "in accordance with the
Disposal of Waste and Electronic Equipment Guidelines".
The simple fact is that the process could have been made simple and
easy if Microsoft had chosen to do so. The Xbox 360 is a computer, and
they could write software that would let two consoles talk to each
other over USB or Ethernet and copy files across.
But doing that would have created a way for owners to get direct
access to the hard drives of the machines, and they might possibly
have used that access to take control of the computer, something
Microsoft cannot countenance.
Abuse possibility
They could have written a tool to let you de-authorise one Xbox from
playing your content and authorising your new console, but that would
have created a possibility of abuse and they would rather not bother
and leave it to their customers to sort out the ensuing mess.
A console is a locked-down system, and the price of playing is to cede
all control to the manufacturer, to accept the limitations they have
put in place and to put up with the inconvenience and irritation of
having to wait a week before you let your son play with his birthday
present.
Microsoft aren't alone, of course. Sony and Nintendo make strenuous
efforts to keep their games systems closed, Apple has put a vast
amount of effort into locking and relocking the iPhone, and we
recently heard how Western Digital hard drives will refuse to share
video or audio files over a network just in case doing so would breach
copyright.
But the confusion, complication, waste and simple stupidity that
Microsoft have introduced into what should be a straightforward
upgrade process is the clearest possible demonstration of just what we
lose when we cede control to the content owners.
I don't think Max will be moving up to the next generation of
Microsoft consoles when they emerge. I don't need the hassle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Thompson is an independent journalist and regular commentator on
the BBC World Service programme Digital Planet.
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
Bookmark with:
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BBC Copyright NoticeMMVIIMost Popular Now | 61,400 people are reading
stories on the site right now. Back to top ^^ Help Privacy and cookies
policy News sources About the BBC Contact us Advertise with us
ADVERTISEMENTUK versionInternational version|About the versions Low
graphics|Accessibility help One-Minute World News
News services
Your news when you want it
News Front Page
Africa
Americas
Asia-Pacific
Europe
Middle East
South Asia
UK
Business
Health
Science/Nature
Technology
Entertainment
Also in the news
-----------------
Video and Audio
-----------------
Have Your Say
In Pictures
Country Profiles
Special Reports RELATED BBC SITES
SPORT
WEATHER
ON THIS DAY
EDITORS' BLOG
Last Updated: Monday, 17 December 2007, 11:02 GMT
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
Microsoft puts upgrade in a spin
Preparing for transfer: The painful process begins
Microsoft make it unnecessarily difficult to upgrade from an Xbox 360
to the Elite, says Bill Thompson.
I'm an indulgent father, as any of my friends will attest, and I'm
also a bit of a gadget freak, so it is little surprise that my son was
the lucky recipient of a cool black Xbox 360 Elite on his recent
birthday.
He has been an Xbox user since the original console launched in 2002,
moving to the much more powerful 360 when it came out last year,
enjoying games like Oblivion and Halo 3 and spending a lot of time on
the online service, Xbox Live.
Now that Microsoft has started offering full game and film downloads
from the Live Marketplace it seemed like a good idea to upgrade, since
the Elite sports a reasonably sized 120Gb hard drive compared to the
frankly embarrassing 20Gb of the original.
Having two consoles means that multi-player games will be a lot more
fun when his friends come over, and may even give me a chance to
improve my own rather minimal Halo skills and attempt the game in
something other than "dorky dad" mode.
Unfortunately we haven't yet been able to experience the new console
in all its HD glory because we're waiting to transfer the game save
files, themes, arcade games, episodes of Red v Blue and all the other
stuff that Max has accumulated on the hard drive of his old console.
t trashes it, just in case you might be evil enough to want to keep
it as a safe backup or access a saved game on the old console
Bill Thompson
There's little point in setting up the new one without all of this
stuff, and no point transferring Max's Xbox Live account onto the
bigger machine until he can use it fully.
We can't just get on with the job because despite the fact that the
Xbox 360 is bristling with USB sockets - you can even plug your iPod
into the thing - and has an Ethernet port for network connectivity
there is no way to get the two machines to talk to each other without
a "magic" cable.
This is a special cable that you have to send away for by printing off
a form and posting a letter.
It isn't even just a simple connection cable: You have to remove your
20Gb drive from your old Xbox, take the 120Gb drive from your new
Xbox, plug the 20Gb drive into your new Xbox, plug the cable into the
back - but not in the front - port on your new Xbox, plug the cable?
it goes on and on and on.
And the process can take an hour or more, warns the Microsoft website,
even for a paltry 20Gb of data.
Let's compare the process with buying a new Macintosh computer to
replace an existing Mac. When you turn on your new purchase it asks
you if you've got a Mac already and offers to clone it, copying files
and settings simply, easily and quickly.
It is simple - when my friend Isabel dropped her Macbook and cracked
the screen the day before a trip to China she managed to copy the
whole system onto a new computer while we ate pizza together.
Transfer process
And if you copy your Mac then the old one is unchanged, so as long as
you follow software licensing terms you can carry on using it.
Not the Xbox 360, though, because once your data has been copied from
the old to the new drive the transfer process erases the contents of
your old drive.
That's right. It trashes it, just in case you might be evil enough to
want to keep it as a safe backup or access a saved game on the old
console.
Microsoft has decided not to allow you to do this, so you had better
hope that your new drive doesn't have a manufacturing fault.
Even when you've done the transfer a lot of the stuff you copy will
not work properly.
Arcade games and TV shows are transferred, but the licenses that allow
you to play them are apparently associated with the serial number of
the console, so they won't play on your new machine unless you are
actually online and connected to Xbox Live. And any film rentals will
simply not be moved.
Oh, and there's one last insult; the cable you get has been specially
designed for the purpose, so you're supposed to use it once and then
throw it away - or rather, dispose of it "in accordance with the
Disposal of Waste and Electronic Equipment Guidelines".
The simple fact is that the process could have been made simple and
easy if Microsoft had chosen to do so. The Xbox 360 is a computer, and
they could write software that would let two consoles talk to each
other over USB or Ethernet and copy files across.
But doing that would have created a way for owners to get direct
access to the hard drives of the machines, and they might possibly
have used that access to take control of the computer, something
Microsoft cannot countenance.
Abuse possibility
They could have written a tool to let you de-authorise one Xbox from
playing your content and authorising your new console, but that would
have created a possibility of abuse and they would rather not bother
and leave it to their customers to sort out the ensuing mess.
A console is a locked-down system, and the price of playing is to cede
all control to the manufacturer, to accept the limitations they have
put in place and to put up with the inconvenience and irritation of
having to wait a week before you let your son play with his birthday
present.
Microsoft aren't alone, of course. Sony and Nintendo make strenuous
efforts to keep their games systems closed, Apple has put a vast
amount of effort into locking and relocking the iPhone, and we
recently heard how Western Digital hard drives will refuse to share
video or audio files over a network just in case doing so would breach
copyright.
But the confusion, complication, waste and simple stupidity that
Microsoft have introduced into what should be a straightforward
upgrade process is the clearest possible demonstration of just what we
lose when we cede control to the content owners.
I don't think Max will be moving up to the next generation of
Microsoft consoles when they emerge. I don't need the hassle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Thompson is an independent journalist and regular commentator on
the BBC World Service programme Digital Planet.
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
Bookmark with:
Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
What are these?
TECHNOLOGY AND YOU
Microsoft puts upgrade in a spin
The writing is on the wall for ads
Lessons for the hi-tech future
Be your own privacy czar
Net vigilantes 'should listen'
End of Mac innocence?
Share and share alike
The obstacles in a DRM-free world
Time for Apple to face the music?
Social net offers new perspective
Why the net needs traffic news
Watching me, watching you
Honesty the best online policy
RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Bill Thompson
Xbox 360 data migration
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
TOP TECHNOLOGY STORIES
Censors battle for Manhunt 2 ban
Weblogs rack up a decade of posts
Hi-tech tools divide social sites
| News feeds
MOST POPULAR STORIES NOW
MOST E-MAILED MOST READ The beauty of maths
Flatulence leads US jet to divert
Millions of L-driver details lost
US singer Fogelberg dies aged 56
Saudi king 'pardons rape victim'
Most popular now, in detail MOST E-MAILED MOST READ US 'slavery'
couple found guilty
Miss Belgium fails her first test
China's economic muscle 'shrinks'
Day in pictures
N America snowstorm tightens grip
Most popular now, in detail
FEATURES, VIEWS, ANALYSIS Death on the box
Germany's 'obituary' TV channel aims for bereaved market
Baby trade?
Seeking the truth about Guatemala's adoptions to the US
Day in pictures
Some of the most striking images from around the world
PRODUCTS & SERVICESE-mail news Mobiles Alerts News feeds Podcasts
BBC Copyright NoticeMMVIIMost Popular Now | 61,400 people are reading
stories on the site right now. Back to top ^^ Help Privacy and cookies
policy News sources About the BBC Contact us Advertise with us