PlayStation 3 Linux axed over "security concerns"
Sony disables Other OS option in wake of recent hack; any PS3's not upgraded will lose significant features
Sony Computer Entertainment has said that the latest firmware upgrade will disable the Install Other OS feature of the PlayStation 3, meaning those that upgrade will be unable to run Linux on the home console.
Dropping support for Linux is down to "security concerns" according to Sony. Last month, notorious hacker George Hotz released an exploit for the console, allowing read/write access to the PlayStation 3 via Other OS and Linux.
The PS3 Firmware 3.21 will be released this Thursday, and although users are not forced to upgrade, the console will be unable to access the PlayStation Network and play any games or movies that will take advantage of the new firmware, as well as miss out on future upgrades and features.
The Other OS feature was dropped from the newer PlayStation 3 model by default when it was released last year.
Although no figures are available on how many PS3 users have installed Linux on the PlayStation 3 – and Sony indicates that it's only a small percentage – predictably the official PlayStation blog is being swamped with complaints and disappointment.
According to Eurogamer's Digital Foundry blog, the move is a "pre-emptive strike" against the possibility of the hardware running cracked games in the future.
"In taking such a measure to counter the hack, the logical conclusion is that Sony wants to the limit overall number of PS3s out there potentially capable of running copied games - an extraordinary pre-emptive strike against the possibility of piracy," wrote Richard Leadbetter.
Sony warned that any users that currently run Linux on the console should back-up valuable data on the Other OS partition of the hard drive, as once upgraded to firmware 3.21 they "will not be able to access that data following the update."
well I cannot use it anyways, since I upgraded (or downgraded?) to the Slim last year, but still, Sony heavily advertised the option to use Linux on the PS3 to learn CELL programming. And now, they take it away just like that. For people that only use it for Linux it doesn't matter anyways, but as I do game, it would matter to me too.
Theirs, of course. That's kinda common sense. It's not like PS3s are being taken over as if they were IE-running Windows machines, so "our" security is irrelevant in this case. We're "secure".
On the one hand, this was a selling point for the PS3, much like backwards compatibility, and it sucks to see it go away. On the other hand, this affects maybe eight people, all of whom are likely the foaming-at-the-mouth type of Linux nerds that run BSD just to say that they can. Translation: nothing to see here, moving on.
Playstations with the OtherOS feature are no longer in production so this is not possible in the first place.
- does not change the pirating-situation, to my knowledge noone has found a way to get the CPU-Keys out yet and Bluray burners und discs are too costly to make it worthwhile anyway
conclusion: probably unnecessary but still irrelevant to 99% of the userbase
Oh and if the reason for removing Linux is to stop hack attempts, when the PS3 is hacked using a different method will they allow it again? :P Maybe they will just turn off the ability of the PS3 to play movies or games that will stop those pesky hackers.
i wonder if people would gripe this much if they took away the printer option from the ps3. I bet that sees about as much use as Other OS.
Also removing it doesn't do anything against piracy as those people will just continue using the older firmware to find the holes. Also the current hack requires as hardware alteration which is very risky.. All they do by removing the option is intensify the hacking..
Oh, and this is also a big concern ofcourse, what if someone in your family accidently updates (or someone who doesn't know the option is being removed? there is no way to downgrade the firmware so you lost all your data..