30th March 2010, 2:30 PM
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 I understand this, as .tiff files are outdated and worthless, and identical functionality is attained simply by converting .tiff files to something else like .png and moving those onto the PSP.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.
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.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)