Today, the Xbox 360 gaming system officially launched and as expected quantities were very limited which left many people disappointed. There are many people who question whether or not the amount of available consoles during the launch has been artificially created by Microsoft to build hype and demand for its product by purposely limiting shipments to various retailers. While it is difficult to say whether or not is true in this case, it is definitely a practice that many companies execute successfully.

As usual, there are always those early adopters who must have the latest and greatest right away. Where there is a demand there is an opportunity and as evident on places such as Ebay people are willing to pay $3000+ to get their hands on the Xbox 360 right now. For reference sake, the Xbox 360 was available in two packages with a premium bundle retailing for $499 and a standard core bundle for $399. That means that there are a lot of people out there who are making a very good return on their initial investment in buying the system with the intent of simply selling it to make a profit.

This always brings up an interesting topic as when people see others making that kind of a profit in this type of scenario they say that it is wrong to do so as you are simply taking advantage of the situation. On the flip side, the people selling the product think it is kind of dumb not to sell it at those kinds of prices for those who are willing to pay that much for it. In cases where the item in question is not really an essential need, if you are able to provide something that is rare to someone who really wants it and are willing to pay big dollars for it, I personally wouldn’t hold it against anyone as everyone has a choice to not buy it and both sides end up getting what they want. For myself, I would personally have the patience to wait for the product to restock in stores as thinking long term wise I would probably regret paying that much money for an item that will become readily available in the future. When the other new gaming systems come out in 2006, a similar scenario will probably happen and it will be interesting to see just how much people are willing to spend.

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Recently there has been a lot of news about rootkit and how it can compromise the function and security of one’s computer system. A brief overview for those who are not too familiar with the rootkit terminology, it is basically a term to describe a set of tools that are designed to make files and actions undetectable by typical computer users and various programs. For example, imagine a virus in your computer that is using this type of technology to make itself undetectable by an antivirus program and therefore cannot be touched.

Sony has apparently been using a rootkit as a form of digital rights management, also known as DRM, on various record labels which a lot of people have recently discovered. Basically, it is an extra measure from Sony’s part to help prevent its music CD’s from being illegally copied or distributed. When one tries to play the CD on a computer, it would first require you to install a program designed to play it while the user is oblivious to the fact that a rootkit is being installed on their computer. This basically alters the way that your music files are played as it now has to first go through this tunnel to function. Not only that, but the program also has features which sends your computer information to Sony.

Recently, hackers have found ways to exploit this technology and use it for unscrupulous means. As an example, in a very popular online game called World of Warcraft, there are measures in place to detect whether or not a player is using some kind of cheat to unfairly progress in the game. By using the rootkit provided by simply playing a Sony CD music that has the technology installed, the person can then use that technology to make themselves undetectable and therefore being able to exploit the game with various programs as they please. While this is just a video game, the thoughts of this happening in a more serious scenario is quickly making people worried.

While people have attempted to uninstall the rootkit, due to the nature of technology being able to make itself invisible to programs and altering the way certain functions in Windows operate, it has proven to be a daunting task as trying to remove it can result in the operating becoming unusable. The last result would be to reformat your computer and to re-install everything. A lot of people are now labeling it as a form of malicious virus and spyware. Many people are attempting to create a removal tool.

The interesting thing I found out of all of this is how many people were interested in hearing Sony’s response about this and they basically received a low key response on the matter. This obviously left a lot of people disgruntled and I won’t be surprised if I see lawsuits popping up about this matter. I guess this makes an interesting point that while everyone should rightfully be able to protect their work and investment from being abused, doing it in an invasive way can make you just as guilty as the person who you are trying to stop. Definitely something to think about for businesses that require some form of digital rights management system.

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