Yeah, I go with Xecuter because of their bioses as well. In this case, I'm enjoying great support for the X3. The 2.6, rightly or wrongly, only exists to be pinheader and d0 plug compatible with the X3, and therefore facilitate an upgrade. It's kinda obvious, really. That is not to say that it's not a solid chip. I've installed a couple of these and they work great, even though I've had to use the M8+ bios for 1.6 boxes. Is there anything wrong with this? Hell no. Team Xecuter is supporting the scene by providing a relatively low-cost, solid chip that may act as a vehice for whatever bios you'd care to install on it.
Now I don't buy the argument that Xecuter's selling you a chip with the implied promise of keeping the bios up to date. As they've said repeatedly in this and their own forum, they sell you the chip and offer you the bios for free. That's the business model of the modchip world, and it's a bit like hiring an escort - money exchanged is for time and company, and whatever else may happen cannot be negotiated for because it's NOT LEGAL to do so. I think we're forgetting the illegal side of providing XDK based software, and as such no company or group or team would ever commit to providing "explicit" support to a chip they sold, because they're looking to cover their asses.
You may say that they're making implicit guarantees just by *being* Team Xecuter, but I think that's BS. They give plenty to the scene, from donating $500 to getting DVD menus working in XBMC to providing goods and services that make xboxes more fun to tinker with and the scene more enjoyable in general. They've spent a hell of a lot of money in R&D desigining not only their chips but also bolt-ons that help maximize the aesthetics and functionality of your xbox.
Also, the "BIOS/components must come from the same manufacturer" argument is specious at best. Own a car? Did the manufacturer engineer the stereo or did they have another company engineer it and incorporate it into their model. If you upgrade that stereo, are you going to make sure that you only use an AC Delco head unit in your GM car? In many cases you have entire models skinned to look like they're from another manufacturer. Sure it's easy to dismiss something as minimal to the performance of your vehicle as a stereo system, but are you pissed off that the Ford Escape Hybrid is based off of licensed Toyota technology?
Old enough to remember when IBM released its own PC operating system to go with their hardware? How *dare* they stop releasing OS/2!
Okay, enough kidding. Here's the rub: Xecuter *did* say there was an X2 bios they'd be releasing. It was a stopgap measure to fix a problem that was hitting 1.6b boxes, but it's probably finished up, tested, stable and sitting on one of their team member's workstations. Is it the wrong thing to do? Who knows. It doesn't really affect me personally, and despite the aggrieved posturing on this forum I hope that it doesn't affect the quality of your lives either. Regardless, it's *their* decision when and if they want to release their bios. Go ahead and vote with your wallets and go with an Aladdin (pretty much the only available chip at half the price of a 2.6); if from a business perspective it becomes more attractive to release an X2 bios, they'll do so.
