Sony drops 'Other OS' support on PS3

Sony drops 'Other OS' support on PS3

Locks up PS3 from open source

UNBELIEVABLY, Sony is dropping support for other operating systems in its next firmware upgrade for the Playstation 3 games console.

Patrick Seybold, Sony's senior director of corporate communications and social media blogged yesterday that Sony will be dropping the PS3's "Install Other OS" feature.

This will occur on 1 April and will be part of Sony's V3.21 firmware upgrade for older fatter PS3's. The slimline model already had this feature wiped from its firmware but for some reason Sony left it alone in the fatboy PS3s.

Seybold claimed the "feature enabled users to install an operating system, but due to security concerns, Sony Computer Entertainment will remove the functionality through the 3.21 system software update."

Now that's a bummer but surely PS3 users can circumvent the firmware because it's not an automatic update and carry on modding with impunity? Not on your Nellie.

We say this with absolute incredulity. If users choose not to upgrade to the v3.21 firmware, Sony won't let them sign on to its Playstation Network. At all. Not even a quick content download let alone allowing users to play any games. With so many PS3 titles now requiring users to be signed on online even if they're not playing online, Sony has wheel-clamped its own system, rendering it incapable of working efficiently. µ

Mon 29 Mar 2010, 14:20

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Comments

Work Around

well for the time being i have found something to bypass this i re posted it on my site here's the link

http://www.bonznumber1.com/gaming-consoles/ps3/update-ps3-to-3-21-and-keep-otheros/

follow this and you'll be good to go at least until Sony requires at least 3.21 for there games

posted by : Bonznumber1, 05 April 2010 Complain about this comment

thats funny

It just makes me chuckle with sony. What was supposed to make their platform ended up on the chopping block.
The backwards compatibility went limp, and now the linux support. Sorry sony

posted by : missingxtension, 02 April 2010 Complain about this comment

April 1

Hmm ... perhaps an April fools' joke?

posted by : Alan Yip, 30 March 2010 Complain about this comment

@mike

I see. I stand corrected.

But you know what? That actually makes it *even funnier*. After all, its not as if people didnt know what Sony are like. Rootkit Sony. Banned Modchip Sony. et cetera ad nauseam Sony.

You have to laugh.

posted by : Anonymous Coward, 29 March 2010 Complain about this comment

It wasn't a hack

Coward - it was never a hack, it was a feature enabled by Sony.

posted by : mike, 29 March 2010 Complain about this comment

This is what you get

... when you buy into a locked down platform and delude yourself "its OK, because we will always be able to hack it" - the day comes when you cant. And you have nobody to blame but yourself.

Remember: the only legitimate, legal recourse you have when confronted with DRM-infested shit is *not to buy it*.

HTH.

posted by : Anonymous Coward, 29 March 2010 Complain about this comment

Predictable

They gave people the keys to the kingdom with Linux support. It was embraced with a collective yawn outside research and academia. All the end-user stuff people hoped for never materialised. And then the most excitement it causes? Someone abusing it to try and hack their own GameOS operating system (geohot).

Sony was too generous, too open-minded. People thumbed their nose up at it and then started to try and compromise Sony's own platform through it. Ever since geohot published his "work", the writing has been on the wall.

I have to also laugh at how much of a backlash this has created. Where were you all when PS3 Linux was being persistently ignored? It's potential was never realised, which is a big shame, because frankly people did not care about it.

posted by : Pat, 29 March 2010 Complain about this comment