Microsoft confirms Kinect hackers to get official developer kit

If I remember well, the Samba team had issues in the past with this practice, and also the activesync protocol is jealously protected (and licensed to Google).

... he’d [PrimeSense's CEO] already had several meetings at Apple. It was the first place he and his engineers thought of. “It was the most natural place for the technology,” he said.

Apple has a history of interface innovation, of course, and had recently introduced the iPhone with its paradigm-shifting multitouch UI. PrimeSense’s system went one step further: It was multitouch that you didn’t even have to touch. Apple seemed like a natural fit.

Yet the initial meetings hadn’t gone so well. Obsessed with secrecy, Apple had already asked Beracha to sign a stack of crippling legal agreements and NDAs.

He shook his head. Why didn’t he want to do a deal with Apple? No need. The technology was hot. He could sell it to anyone.

“Apple is a pain in the ass,” he said, smiling.

http://www.cultofmac.com/how-apple-almost-got-microsofts-kin...

EDIT: link

I don't know if Sony ever got the PS3 to the point that the consoles are profitable by themselves.

Another factor is that Kinect hacking is unlikely to lead to game cheating. It's just an input device. The code that does the processing for the games is in the software on the XBox, and they have locked that down tight.

With the PS3, since it is the PS3 itself that is being hacked, I would expect that there is a lot more potential for using the hacks to cheat in online games--something that does hurt Sony financially.

There are probably more.

Good move, Microsoft. Apple, are you seeing this? This is how you get people to use your stuff.