14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has taken a new stance on its Kinect peripheral for the Xbox 360 and the fact that people are already trying to modify the device to work on the PC and read gestures without the need of Microsoft’s proprietary drivers, essentially hacking its new technology.
The software giant revealed that Kinect wasn't hacked per se, but that open-source projects have appeared, with their own custom drivers, which use the motion detection peripheral on other things besides gaming, like its intended purchase with the Xbox 360.
"The first thing to talk about is Kinect was not actually hacked," explained Alex Kipman, director of incubation for Xbox at Microsoft.. "Hacking would mean that someone got to our algorithms that sit on the side of the Xbox and was able to actually use them, which hasn't happened."
"Or it means that you put a device between the sensor and the Xbox for means of cheating, which also has not happened. That's what we call hacking, and that's why we have put a ton of work and effort to make sure it doesn't actually occur."
Kipman continued, explaining what actually happened with the first "hacking news".
"What has happened is someone wrote an open-source driver for PCs that essentially opens the USB connection, which we didn't protect by design, and reads the inputs from the sensor. The sensor again, as I talked earlier, has eyes and ears and that's a whole bunch of, you know, noise that someone needs to take and turn into signal."
When asked if the company will take action against anyone who wants to use the Kinect for other purposes besides its intended gaming one, Kipman revealed that no one will get into any trouble.
This is a far cry from a few weeks ago, when Microsoft was threatening anyone that tampered with the Kinect with legal action, just as the first open-source Kinect drivers were being released on the web.
Still, seeing as how the Kinect is now being used for all sorts of purposes, Microsoft might start using the "hacking" scene in favor of its new peripheral, and let it promote the new device through ingenious projects.