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Once upon a time, Ziphone was not the best idea; but it was the only alternative. I have an iPod Touch; and Ziphone was the first to provide jailbreaking services on 1.1.4 for this device. At the time, I was deeply involved with the Ziphone community, providing my assistance to thier users, and ultimately becoming an operator on #ziphone at tux-irc.net.
Ziphone wasn't a horrible idea then. Yes, its creator shafted the entire dev team, stole their works, and released them as his own. Yes, he was an arrogant *** wholly convinced of his own superiority, but the software worked (most of the time). iLiberty+ hadn't yet been released, and for a few days, (perhaps a week or two) Zibri's creation had cornered the market. It was easy, fast, and got the job done. Granted, even then, it had its flaws. Those who wished to unlock their devices had to perform a risky bootloader downgrade, and if anything happened during this process, they were Completely and utterly screwed. Nothing could save them. Nothing.
Fortunately for us, the support 'staff' of #ziphone, this didn't happen too often in the beginning. Then, things started to change.
Zibri would release updates to 'his' software, updates that would make it even more unstable than it was before. Soon, the cries for help began piling up; all having one or two things in common. The most prominent of these was the classic 'Greyed Wifi' scenario, where the device would inexplicably lose connectivity for reasons 'they' have STILL not determined to this day. All we could do was shrug and recommend that users 'Virginize' their iPhones. (Although in Truth, none of us, not even Zibri, had the fondest clue of what this entailed.) Without an iPhone to test it out on, I was in the dark on much of the ways to fix what Ziphone broke, but I remained (stupidly) optimistic. Someday, the issue would happen to the right person, they'd figure out a fix, and we'd go back to being a viable alternative to the new (and frankly better) methods that were quickly becoming available.
Someone would experience the issue, fix it, and tell us how. It was bound to happen...
Suprise, it never happened. Zibri released version 2.0 of his Ziphone software in February, forever rendering it a dangerous, and hopeless peice of crap for iPhone users the world over. He never did fix the problems his software created. That was done by the iLiberty+ team. Still, up through 2.5 I stayed on with #ziphone, putting up with Zibri's unwarranted, and horribly flawed superiority complex, until finally, I'd had enough.
I couldn't sit back and listen to him rant about how great Ziphone was, while daily being stumped by the half-dozen iphones that were bricked as a direct result of its use. I couldn't watch him chastize these 'victims' for what he thought they did wrong (using a different method before Ziphone (even before it was available) was a cardinal sin... punishable by an immediate kick/ban.) I knew that if I continued to support his flawed way of thinking, and his horribly flawed software, that my limited reputation for providing decent help was going to vanish, and I'd be cast among the dregs of the iPhone community.
I told the rest of #ziphone's ops what I thought (All of them agreed, yet continue to stay on anyways), and I never went back.
Since that time, I've kept up on what Zibri has released, and it's more alarming today than its ever been. His one-pass method is dangerous, and horribly unreliable. His handling of the iPhone's bootloader, mac address, and other internal mechanisms is nothing short of irresponsible. To anyone who has used Ziphone in the past, be aware; You have a ticking time-bomb on your hands. One day, your device will stop working, and you'll have Zibri to thank.
If you have an iPhone, and wish to jailbreak or unlock, do yourself a favor and use iLiberty+, or Pwnage instead. Ziphone is a very bad idea, and while you could go months, even years without an issue, the changes it makes to fundamental parts of the device are irreverseable to the lay-user out there.
Even though I no longer support #ziphone, I still encounter devices that have been rendered useless because of its effects. As long as people are willing to hit 'Do It All' without doing their homework first, this will always be the case. Let my experiences (and the victims I've encountered) be a lesson; Ziphone might seem easy, safe, and reliable, but in reality, it is anything but.
Cheers,
K
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05-27-2008, 06:05 PM
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