Hello all.
I have decided to email Motorola informing them of my distaste for their practice of locking bootloaders. I think that if enough people do this, we could convince them to change their ways. So let's all email them! I'm including a copy of the email I sent to them. (PS, I know I have some grammatical problems, I was stupid and failed to proofread before I sent the email)
"Hello,
I would just like to express my disappointment with your company's decision to lock down the bootloader of the Droid X. I have had numerous Motorola phones, including the Zine ZN5 and the original Moto Droid. My family have been using Motorola cell phones for more than 15 years. It was my intention to purchase a Droid X within the next month.
That has all come to an end. Your decision to lock the bootloader is completely anti-consumer. It is not harmful to you at all to allow consumers to modify their phone. You may think that you are only alienating the hardcore developers, but that is far from the truth. I myself am not a developer at all, merely someone who enjoys customization of phones.
Not only are you losing myself and my family members, whom I often advise on phone purchases, as customers, but you are also losing a wonderful reference. Because I frequently change phones, many people come to me for advice on what phones they should purchase. I will no longer recommend any Motorola phone. Just today a co-worker asked if she should purchase the Droid Incredible or the Droid X. I told her that she should not support a company that needlessly restricts the use of a consumer's own property. In any other product but a cell phone, this would not be tolerated. Even in the computers made by Apple (the oft-lauded most restrictive companies), they allow the installation of alternate operating systems. Remember, these mobile phones you sell are really miniature computers.
Further, I know for a fact that this is not brought on by pressure from the telecoms. I previously worked with a company that was working to release an Android smart phone (though it seems unlikely to see the light of day at this point), and none of the telecoms we had worked with had any complaints of having unlocked bootloaders. This includes Verizon, on whose network the Droid X will be released.
You are not doing this to avoid warranty repairs on phones that had been improperly modified, because doing so voids one's warranty. This is something that all who install custom ROMs understand. There is no discernible reason for you to be locking these bootloaders. All you are doing is alienating your customer base.
I hope you understand that I am far from the only person who feels this way, and you will be losing many, many sales because of this. You had a chance to recreate yourself, and bring yourself back to the top of the mobile phone industry. You have shown that you care nothing about consumers, and do not deserve to regain your leadership position.
By doing this, you are proving yourself to be no better than Apple.
You can change all of this by releasing unlocks for the bootloaders of your phones, including the Droid X, and by not locking the bootloaders of your future phones.
Yours truly,
A former fan of Motorola smart phones,
XXXXXXXXXXXX"
But with the DVD Drive hack there was still a way to run modified software on it in spite of the eFuse.
