OK two points...One. I live in SA, an i goto TAFE. The government has been doubly-fucked as far as IT goes. they're stuck in a contract with EDS for the next couple of years still, and because they have some 'deal' with microsoft where they can get pretty much any MS software for free, thats what we get stuck with.
And as for the xbox/chipping. It is perfectly legal to chip a game console, and the manufacturer is required by law to repair the unit if something is faulty, as long as it isn't related to the chip.
And on the xbox itself. While i have a strong dislike of ms, and its products. I have yet to see a game console that is comparable to the xbox. the ability to link 4 (or 16 in UT 2003) xboxs together using STANDARD (yes i was shocked too) Cat5 ethernet cable and switches/hubs to play muliplayer games alone is enough to kill anything else. i would love if the PS3 had ethernet, usb controllers, 40Gb hd, firewire/firewire800. 7.1 sound/HDTV/widescreen support, just to make some sort of competition to the xbox offerings. but at the moment, the xbox is clearly the best gaming console around