[eureka]

Originally Posted by ixtab

OK, let me rephrase: I bought it for the hardware and OS, but not for buying shitloads of e-books from Amazon (which actually is the only purpose of the reader, from Amazon's point of view). I bought exactly one book. Otherwise, what I'm reading on it is free and sideloaded.

It's a false dichotomy. Even without jailbreak you're not required to buy any book from Amazon. Sideloading of books works fine in stock 5.3.0 firmware. I didn't buy any book from Amazon either.

Also, Amazon firmware can't be easily installed in OS-only form (without userspace programs). It's not officially supported. But it's possible anyway. Extract rootfs from 5.3.0 bundle; remove Amazon userspace programs: at least, Java-based UI, Mesquite-based apps, ToDo (which is pulling software updates) and OTA updater; then flash remained part through serial port/U-Boot console. Then try to use it. Is it what you've bought Kindle for? Did you buy Kindle for hardware or for hardware and OS or for hardware and Amazon's firmware?

Originally Posted by ixtab

They don't get revenue from the ads. If I merely see the ad, they get no revenue at all. And since I'm not buying anything based on the ads, I can just as well not see them. (and... jbpatch wasn't the first method to remove the SOs. There actually is a method which doesn't even require the jailbreak at all - what now? Are all Kindle owners potential criminals?).

I think they do get some revenue from showing ads, because the chain of user actions can be a little longer. User see the ad -> user click the ad -> user buy advertised product. (EDIT: ah, discard these striked words. It's the same as you've said and I now understand your point of view.) If user don't want to see ads, she can just look through it. Or buy Kindle without Special Offers. Or disable Special Offers in Manage Your Kindle cabinet (with additional payment).

Of course, when device is in your hands, you can disable Special Offers with additional code, but without any additional payment. Amazon can't enforce you to pay and they can't enforce you to stop distributing your code. They are helpless. Or... They can try to change their code, so that your changes will stop work for some time. It's a logical next step, isn't it?

I also saw some testimonies about bad/non-stable behavior of trick with .assets (non-jailblreak way of disabling of SO) on PW.

I don't think Amazon is willing to accuse anybody as a criminal for disabling Special Offers. They implemented a bit more effective measures. (Though, their measures will be bypassed, because their programmers aren't perfect.)

Originally Posted by ixtab

And anyway, just because the jailbreak ALSO allows to do exactly one thing that some consider "evil" or "stealing" (no, I don't), but many other things that make the device more attractive and actually help Amazon, they show us the middle finger?

Finally, I'd bet that the lockdown would also have happened if there hadn't been any Special Offer devices, so the only weak argument of the "developers are evil, we need to lock down our device" proponents is futile.

Jailbreak allows anything. Amazon can't provide limited jailbreak, like: "here is your root, but you can't disable SO without fair payment". Here is the problem (for Amazon). They can only lock the whole device. They did it. It will not help them in [not so] long term, of course.

I do agree that my argument was weak. For example, Java code would be obfuscated anyway, even without "Disable SO" option in JBPatch. It's bad. I'm pro-jailbreak, peace!