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The truth about last year's Xbox 360 recall

A recommended blog posting by Paul Thurrott.

Michael Horowitz

Michael Horowitz wrote his first computer program in 1973 and has been a computer nerd ever since. He spent more than 20 years working in an IBM mainframe (MVS) environment. He has worked in the research and development group of a large Wall Street financial company, and has been a technical writer for a mainframe software company.

He teaches a large range of self-developed classes, the underlying theme being Defensive Computing. Michael is an independent computer consultant, working with small businesses and the self-employed. He can be heard weekly on The Personal Computer Show on WBAI.

Disclosure.

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Michael Horowitz

In the first posting on this blog I said it would be a game-free zone. Despite this, I recommend reading The truth about last year's Xbox 360 recall by Paul Thurrott. The story is as much about Microsoft and hubris as it is about the Xbox 360.

You may recall that Microsoft had to replace many Xbox 360s that suffered from a "Red Ring of Death" and even went so far as to extend the warranty to three years. Microsoft never offered specifics on the problem and now we know why, it was embarrassing.

Anyone can call the Xbox 360 "... a hunk of unreliable junk that was foisted on us by people who are more concerned with their own image than with reality." But, it means more, when coming from a pro-Microsoft person, such as Mr. Thurrott.

FYI: The article refers to an "ASIC" which is an Application Specific Integrated Circuit. In the context of the article it refers to the graphics processor.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.