What if it wasn't Red? or a Ring?

[super_etecoon]

Here is my question: Why did Microsoft go to such elaborate means to tell their service department exactly what was wrong with the machine? Most consoles simply have 2-3 light values (on, off, standby), but Microsoft must have known they had a problem. Their answer: just put a coding device on the front to speed up repairs. "We'll let the first 10 million customers be our debugging group."