Microsoft Makes It Easier to Hack the Kinect | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft Makes It Easier to Hack the Kinect

technologyreview.com

42 pointsterio12 comments

The Beta SDK FAQ is chock full of interesting issues, including:

Not being able to distribute applications standalone, users must also download SDK to get the runtimes No commercial use, and on top of that, due to the fact that MS cannot predict the usage of the kinect SDK, all SDK derived applications should not be considered “allowed under the SDK”. Microsoft owns the right to say what software you can use the hardware with, and using the kinect with anything outside of the SDK is not allowed. Even with this wording in place, the MSDN Channel 9 launch video lauded all of the open source applications currently available for the kinect. The SDK will not run on Virtual Machines

Source: http://www.nonpolynomial.com/2011/06/16/console-controls-usa...

The no-standalone bit is just like the rest of MS's DirectX and whatnot. I'm not sure why that would be a surprise.

The rest is annoying, though. Maybe they'll see the light, or maybe they'll just be replaced by something better.

'Hack' is probably not the right word here. And if it is, it's used incorrectly. How about:

"to use the"

"to create apps with the"

"to hack with the"

The article mentions developers that have reverse engineered Kinect's protocol.

I remember when that happened. And that was a hack. But MS releasing an official SDK does not help them 'hack the Kinect'. It helps them use it officially.

talk about missing the boat.

Good to see them embracing this crowd.

Not easier in any way. The openni sdk is much open as it allows the developer to use multiple operating systems, multiple depth cameras and a more permissive license.

So the article and the herd got it all wrong, in fact the world would be better if this sdk was not released, and in my opinion without microsoft (see the latest fear mongering about webgl from a company that takes ages to patch security holes).

To be fair, life would be a lot worse if Microsoft had to patch every hole WebGL would open if their assessment is right (and lots of people smarter than me think it is).

Possibly but it will only make them irrelevant faster. The fact is I have and use WebGL today in Safari, Chrome and (sort of) Firefox, for better or for worse.

They will either support it or see their browser share falling. And I have no problem with smaller Microsoft - they did good things when they had to fight for their lives.

"see the latest fear mongering about webgl"

Can't be total BS, John Carmack agrees with them - http://twitter.com/#!/ID_AA_Carmack/status/81732190949486592

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