Sony Can Update PS3 Firmware Without Permission

Stoobalou writes "Sony's latest firmware update comes with a revised End User License Agreement which allows the company to change any part of the console's operating system without notification or permission. You might think you own the console you paid for, but Sony has a very different idea."

Comments

Re:this is very common

[t33jster]

Sony's apples & Valve's oranges, really.

Steam is software that runs on hardware you own and control. Decide after the fact that you don't like their software? Delete it from your hardware and lose the games you paid for. End of story.

PS3 is a black box (literally & figuratively) of both hardware & software. If you buy the hardware, you *should* have some semblance of control over that hardware. In fact, unless you bought that hardware very recently, you had the option of installing another OS on the hardware (which you bought, and presumably own). Now users are faced with the choice of which features they want to live without - lose PSN or lose running another OS.

Ironically, it could be that Valve is moving towards Steam running on Linux that may have been a motivating factor in the decision to remove the other OS feature in the first place.

Regardless of Sony's motivation, the hardware/software lock-in is what keeps me away from consoles, Ipods, etc. I prefer to own the hardware that I have purchased.