Xbox to run Linux OS (?)

Was reading The Inquirer when I found this indeed surprising news(or is it?). :O

THE ENIGMAH Xbox mod chip is likely to lead to clever folk producing a Linux shell for the Microsoft console.

That would surely be a bitter pill for Microsoft to swallow. It doesn't even like people running non-Windows operating systems on PCs, never mind its cut-down console.

The Xbox uses a Pentium III chip and Nvidia graphics, but Enigmah's invention, which we reported here last week, allows unsigned code to run on the console.

Microsoft appears unable to take steps to stop such chip mods being made available for the Xbox, much as Sony has failed to prevent similar modifications being made available for its PlayStation family.

It's estimated that each Xbox Microsoft makes costs it around $200, and for one of them to run Linux would be an indignity likely to drive Redmond into a state of near incandescence.

News source: The Inquirer