http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/...tion-3.ars
They're removing linux support from the PS3 for "security reasons" and "to ensure they can provide us with the best content". How does this ensure anything exaclty? It's just words. They're scared someone will use linux to hack the firmware and have decided to take out a feature I've been using. What a terrible move. It's one thing to remove a feature in a remodel, but I already bought and paid for this system, and that was a built in feature. Their only consolation is that, as of yet, the firmware isn't literally forced into my system. Small consolation considering if I don't upgrade they're not letting me on their network any more, and future games probably won't work.
Just leave it in there Sony. Don't give us this cheap excuse. If someone finds some hack with linux, it happens, just accept the consequences of putting it in there to begin with.
I don't like slippery slope logic, but what if Sony decides that they could stand to make a lot more money off future PS2 emulated game sales if they cut out the ability to play PS2 disks from a future firmware update? I'm trying to see how that's fundamentally different than this...
Sucks for the people that bought a PS3 for the Linux support.
I don't have a PS3 and, even if I did, I wouldn't use Linux on it. It's a raw deal for the people who bought one so they could use Linux on it, but beyond that it doesn't mean a whole lot to me.
lol im in ur ps3z steelin ur linuckses
Quote:They're scared someone will use linux to hack the firmware and have decided to take out a feature I've been using.
This has already happened. A few weeks ago, a hacker was able to bypass the PS3's firmware and run home brew on it. Sony must be removing it because they don't want anymore hackers getting into the system.
I'll see if I can find the link to the story.
It's still a boneheaded manuever. People are going to do whatever they want with their hardware one way or another.
Yeah, it's a knee-jerk reaction to a hack that hasn't yet actually gotten very far. Predictable I guess, in that Sony's kind of stupid about this stuff, but all it's going to do is annoy some legitimate users. The hackers probably won't be affected.
So yeah, it's dumb.
Annoy? Mark my words, there's a potential lawsuit in the works here. While people such as us are likely enough to find out about what this firmware does, many legitimate users are going to find out they lost the feature only after the firmware update is complete and they try to boot to linux (it's more useful than you'd think, considering you have a very powerful computer once the process is done, and I use it more often than I thought I would). With that in mind, and considering their previous promise NOT to remove this very feature from the "fat" models, I can imagine a lawsuit claiming damages could be upcoming.
And of course, I feel sorry for those labs that bought a large number of PS3 systems to use as a cheap supercomputer which decide to do an update to their various system's firmware only to cause their work to come to a grinding hault.
The PS3 is irrelevant to me.
Hmm, I dont see the big deal here because I dont own a PS3 or understand why the Linux abilities are important but Mr. Jaguar, you should write a letter to Sony. It would make more sense to me if they created an option instead of outright taking it from you.
Write a letter, what am I a neanderthal? It doesn't help that I have no idea where I could send it that wouldn't get it promtply ignored for being the wrong address. All I can find are addresses to billing and technical support and such. There doesn't seem to be any sort of general suggestion box.
If you guys think a hack for the PS3 is bad, go check out the shit that happens to the PSP. That thing gets hacked up the ass.
Yeah, and that's got to be part of why they're so utterly paranoid about PS3 hacking.
Yeah, 'cuz heaven forbid someone put software on a machine they paid for that Sony doesn't approve (read: collect royalties from).
My PSP actually is hacked, and it's given me a lot of useful things. I never had much need to pirate anything (besides my ignorance on where to find PSP games online, I tend to pick up any PSP game I want pretty quickly anyway). Thanks to the hack, I've been able to take my library of PS1 games and stick them on my PSP to play on the go (with much nicer added backgrounds than what the PS store adds). I've also got a wide assortment of "homebrew" games on the thing. In fact I often play more custom games than actual Sony games. Yes, I get that this may be reason for them to be upset, but I'm hardly doing anything criminal here, despite their protests. The closest it gets is I do have various old school system emulators loaded on the thing full of games I already own to play them on the go. When the choices are, buy an emulated version of a game I already paid for when it was new and still own, or just rip the game and use it on the emulator on a modded system, the choice is clear to me. That hardly makes me a thief. You can't own "portability".
They originally designed the PS3's linux mode with the idea of allowing users to do whatever they wanted with the PS3, just outside their own user interface, and I was happy with that. Removing that is frustrating. I may upgrade anyway, already having a PC, but I did spend a lot of time setting up that linux install just how I liked it and I really shouldn't have to be making this choice. People who care more about this feature than I do are already complaining loudly.
There's also rumors this is some badly timed April Fool's Day joke because the date on the news post is April 1st, which I failed to notice because, well, it isn't April yet. I certainly hope that's the case.
I just don't get this. Not that I blame the hacker for Sony's idiotic reaction, but it seemed kinda pointless for those using Linux on it as they could already run custom software. I suppose the hack may have been more for the slim models, but those models don't have a custom OS option did they? I don't know if this hack even would have worked there in any case.
One thing's for sure, down the line, someone's going to find a hack for the PS3 that doesn't use the custom OS feature anyway, making the removal of this feature a meaningless measure. Why do these stupid things Sony?
The only other feature Sony has ever removed from their own firmware has been .tiff imagine file support from the PSP. I understand this, as .tiff files are outdated and worthless, and identical functionality is attained simply by converting .tiff files to something else like .png and moving those onto the PSP. Further, .tiff files are notoriously exploitable, easily cracked into buffer overrun issues. I know scanners have often used .tiff in the past, and it's a business standard, but businesses need to move on from that just like fax machines. Further, they didn't just remove support the instant an exploit was detected. They tried to patch up each exploit as it was discovered while maintaining support for over a year before finally accepting that .tiff files are just too buggy. All in all, the important thing here is that in the case of .tiff files, they didn't remove the image viewing functionality of the PSP (not that I ever used it much myself), they just removed support for an unused format of images, and the firmware still easily allows people to view those images so long as they convert them first.
Not so here. They could have found some easy way to identify this hack and not allow it to be installed. Heck to even use it you need to open up the system and do some modifications, and if users are going to take that step, well there's a LOT more potentially opened up by that. It's both useless and harmful to legitimate users. It's simply stupid. I certainly hope it is an april fool's day joke.
Unreadphilosophy Wrote:Someone has a guilty conscience:
http://www.qj.net/qjnet/playstation-3/ge...s-out.html
There's nothing for him to apologize for, hacking systems isn't wrong.
Also, the PS3 Slim already had no other OS support already, evidently, he says, so this was probably coming sometime either way...
Which would be fine, if I had bought a PS3 off of eBay, them being the ones giving the refund (a policy which I'm sure they are about to reconsider when all the other eBay purchasers get wind of this).
At any rate, there's folks working on some sort of hacked firmware adding back in the feature. Eh, I really had no reason to "hack" my PS3 to begin with. I could run whatever I needed from Linux if I needed "homebrew". Sure I couldn't run PS3 games, but that's what the normal firmware was for.
lol yeah well, apparently some other people wrote letters with strong words and nouns and such and Sony is now considering some alternatives as well. Semi-related news is that Apple now has a unified social structure, ie: XBox Live, PSN etc. This means Nintendo is the only odd duck out. Apple's move is a direct threat to Nintendo, I wonder how they'll retaliate and if Apple will consider unifying with Nintendo... an Apple OSX based unified social structure for Wii2 that connects with Apple products. That seems a little too perfect.
I dunno, Nintendo tends to like to stand alone on these things. Creating their network with such a big beast like Apple doesn't match what they've done in the past.
Yeah, Nintendo likes to control its own system. Apple likes to do the same, they'd have a very hard time working together I'd imagine...
Good point, Apple is the same way. Yeah, they're like two cats in a sack.