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Hacker Will Try To Restore Linux Support On PS3
Many readers have been sending in news of the impending PS3 firmware update that will remove the ability to install other operating systems on the console. (We discussed it here on Sunday.) Over the past few days, legions of PS3 owners have been voicing their anger at Sony's decision, upset that they'll be forced to either lose their custom install or forgo use of the PlayStation Network and be unable to play certain games and movies. Now, hacker George Hotz, known for his iPhone jailbreaks and his PS3 hack earlier this year, has vowed to fight back and restore Linux support on the PS3. He said, "The PlayStation 3 is the only product I know that loses features throughout its lifecycle. Software PS2 emulation, SACD playback, and OtherOS support are all just software switches you can flip. It's unbelievable you would go and flip one, not just on new boxes you are shipping, but on tens of millions already in the field."
I'm hoping i can point this out early enough, but the slated released date for this patch is april 1st.
Talk about one of the most successful trolls on the internet today, sony generated a TON of nerd rage on this stunt, it's rather hilarious.
I'll also say that many news stories about this pointed out the obvious fact that it conflicts with a recent statement that sony supports this feature and will continue to preserve it, it seems a fairly obvious april fools joke.
Just saying.
You never realize how much manually made unmanaged "linked" lists suck, till you have src.link.link.link.link...
In the interest of openness, I've decided to release the exploit. Hopefully, this will ignite the PS3 scene [...]
Looks like the fires need a little more than that to get lit, but there's a lot of pissed off users now with torches just aching to start a blaze.
Sony had to see this coming, now we just have to see if they'll try to litigate their way out of it or own up.
I love the way that slashdot geeks think that they are the average user. The number of linux installs on PS3 is so small that there's no reason for Sony to continue to support it, basically a few high computing centers and a few hackers, as opposed to the millions of gamers who have no idea it's even there. And yes there is a reason to turn it off. To remove it from the list of features that need to be supported going forward.
I'm really surprised that it lasted this long.
The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
>> The PlayStation 3 is the only product I know that loses features throughout its lifecycle.
Presuming youre talking about artificial limitations, Microsoft have been doing it for years.
For example, I can watch Blu-ray under XP. No such luck with Vista or Windows 7 thanks to the extra DRM and my non-hdcp monitor.
(emphasis mine)
Those are separate products.
And people still ask why I refuse to buy a console... I just will not buy hardware I am not allowed to own.
Sony has forgotten something important. One of the ways that piracy hacks come to be is people hacking the hardware to install Linux or some other random thing. Now that Sony doesn't support it, it's like throwing down the glove and daring them to hack it. Once the hacks exist, it's just a matter of time until they're used for piracy.
This is really a tremendously bonehead move.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
True, slasdoters tend to way over estimate the collective moral outrage that exists out there in the world beyond this website. There needs to be some acceptance of reality that its very unlikely you are going to make $COMPANY pay!
Still I totally understand the frustration. There are lots of comments to the effect here to of: I did not buy a $PRODUCT to do $TASK, where task is something other then the most common application. Still if you bought something that advertised $FEATURE its not at all unreasonable to expect to be able to use it for that, and its a little unfair for the vendor to come along after and say "well no you can't do that anymore."
Its not like you can just not apply the new firmwares either, because if you don't you can't run the latest games. Lots of people probably did buy a PS3 expecting that they could run Linux AND native PS3 software. If Sony wants to be a responsible vendor (and they have proved time and time again, at virtually every opportunity they are not) they would support the full feature set for the life cycle of the product.
What people have to start doing is being personally responsible enough to assess the past behavior of vendors and decide if that and the merits of the product make the purchase worth while. I have been burned by Sony enough times that I WILL NOT BUY their products even when they are light years ahead of the competition because I know I will end the end be treated badly by them.
You can sell me awful hardware if your customer service is good enough. If I feel like you care about my problems and you're solving them quickly and painlessly when they happen, I will put up with a lot of problems. If you pull Sony type BS all the time than forget it, I don't want to do business with you becuase I know when I do have a problem its going be misery, even if there will be few problems.
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As a member of the PS3Cluster team I would like to say that Sony's cutting off of 3rd party OSes from their platform is going to impact the Air Force, UMass Dartmouth and other organizations using PS3 hardware as massively parallel clusters for scientific computing. This goes far beyond the home-brew market.
We've been covered here before:
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/17/2251232
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