The first Linux program to run legally on Xbox has been released, says the Xbox Linux Project. It is not clear to us what the program, which was created without the Xbox SDK, actually does, and just maybe all it does is put Tux on the Xbox screen, but still, it's progress.

The Xbox Linux Project aims to overcome the best-laid plans of Microsoft's licensing Stasi by developing a version of Linux which you can get running on an Xbox without having to go to jail afterwards, and as we reported last week, it's dangling a $200,000 reward in the quest for success by the end of this year.

We note from the discussion thread over at our good friends from /. that some people seem to think this a shocking waste of effort. But "Tsk!", we cry. Where on earth would the software business be today without the pointless, even frivolous, expenditure of effort? Some of you people out there are getting old, and by George, we know we are... ®