Comment Re:Obligatory (Score 2) 419
Maybe; that question is very similar to the legality of jailbreaking and such.
Does a company really have the power to decide who and what can be developed for a piece of hardware it makes?
Mostly indirectly. A company can control:
- Who gets to use their development libraries
- Who gets to market products using their trademarks ("for the kinect")
- Possibly (and this is pure speculation), contractual agreements with retailers and consumers provide Microsoft with other rights.
I thought this was part of American "First Sale" doctrine?
First Sale relates to resale rights, and (AFAIK IANAL) probably not much else. See wikipedia.
So, Microsoft can't stop you and your friends from making a non-distributed, privately used sex game for the kinect using entirely your own software and not distributing that game publically (of course, good luck with that.) If they can, that's bogus and your concerns about slippery slopes and the ability to limit freedoms are probably more justified.
All in all, I don't see much problem with this. History proves that if Microsoft gets too restrictive, both free and proprietary solutions will provide viable alternatives to those of us concerned with freedom.