There have been many explanations of the cause of Microsofts 360 failing hardware. Here's another one: http://www.8bitjoystick.com/archives/jake_inside_source_reveal_the_truth_about_xbox_360_red_ring_of_death_failures.php

Like every article with sources claiming to be involved with the development of MS's console this one also has some things to say that are really questionable. However, there are some parts that have a plausible background and what this guy says might actually have something, if not all to do with the reason of so many 360's overheating.

 Funny how he refers to talking about adding motion controls to the 360. I remember talking to a developer (which will stay anonymous) on Gamershell which we had on to talk about starforce (malicious copy protection for the pc) on games, and we talked about the possibility of RTS on console. We also suggested some type of pointing device back then to quickly select units. It's in the forums right now which are currently down for maintanace, sigh. http://forums.gamershell.com/ 

That was a good read Gazz. -Thanks

Thanks. That was very convincing and correlates well with the mixed reports of others, i.e. it was badly designed and no single "fix" will take failures to acceptable levels.

Those motion controls, which have a pointer, sound wii-mote style, maybe that's taking copying a bit too far

We were discussing those types of motion control in 2005 like I said. It's just the easiest way to copy the behaviour of a mouse. It's not like the Wii was the first to come up with this type of control. It's been around for ages. Nintendo just marketed and perfected it brilliantly, but the controls itself date back ages.

Anyway, it's a bit of a shame motion control seems to overtake this discussion. The article is full of great material about the RROD issue with the 360 and that's more interesting. Even if MS or whoever though about incorporating motion control, they didn't and perhaps it wouldn't have even been the succes as it currently is on the Wii.

@ Gazz, hasn't the new chipset gone a long way to solve their problems?

There is already another thread about this topic.

 From a marketing point of view it has. With several websies receiving the new chipset and writing reviews based on mild usage for a few hours customers reclaim their confidence in the brand. From a hardware point of view it hasn't made a significant change.

 no there isn't

Are there still hardware problems with the 360 today? 

^Yeah, only difference is that it doesn't get the same attention as it used too. Just read the link in my first post.