@Biggest, I'm not talking about graphics, I'm talking about processing horse power.

@Godmars, I have a 60 GB fat PS3 sitting beside me.

Sony must have realized that having PS3's used as super computers was not good for their business model. Those machines will likely not be used for gaming software consumption, which is where they have to make their money back because they sold the system at a loss. That may even have been more of a reason for them to do it than security issues. Regardless, this doesn't really have any implications for any other features, as it presented a unique problem. It's far more likely that we will from this point forward only see improved services from Sony, and no more retractions.

1.1 -
It's still pretty sh1tty of them to remove a feature that a lot of people/companies use.

So can you tell me the estimate since a lot of people use Linux on their ps3?

And did you ever install Linux in it? Did the thought even ever seriously occur to you?

It's not really mine. I'm borrowing it for an extended period of time from my friend who's at an army base for 6 months.

I probably would if I had my own, just to screw around with stuff.

This DOES NOT hurt supercomputing AT ALL. The people using the PS3s as a super computer, can still use them as a supercomputer, they just cannot connect to PSN, which they won't be doing anyway, because they clearly did not buy a PS3 for gaming!!!

"a big hit to low-cost supercomputing"

lol...yeah, right, cuz People that have the Clusters, Unplug the PS3s to play MAG, Right?

What a dumb article, they probably don't have even the First FW Update installed, the People that have those Clusters don't use it for Playing Games/On-line or Watch Blu-Rays, so they Don't Going to install the FW...

The people who are using it for computing PROBABLY AREN'T hooked up to PSN.

This update will not have a huge impact on the few people using a stack of PS3's for computing purposes. They aren't playing on the PSN anyway so it's not a big deal in the short term. Getting replacement PS3's in the future that haven't been updated will become an issue though. By then a better solution will probably be available anyway.

This move does impact PS3 owners that use their machines to do "everything". To have an additional OS on their system for a few ywars and have it taken away for no appearant reason sucks. For those of you that want to take the "it doesn't matter since I don't use it approach", why are you even commenting then? Taking features away isn't good unless it is done to add something new. It amazes me how some people cheer everytime Sony dumbs down the PS3.

-Death

If your using the PS3 only for Linux, then you don't need to get the update. Someone help me out here, I'm a bit confused.

True, if someone bought a PS3 for Linux and not for gaming they can still go on the internet. They just cannot access PSN. So updating isn't really an issue.

What is the issue is for the very small percentage of gamers who do still want to use Linux and play on PSN.

Since they've removed Linux from PS3Slim, that's the potential sales from people who wanted the PS3 for Linux and powerful hardware. Although the sales loss from this minority audience will hardly even put a scratch on Sony in the long run.

Finally, if there are people who still want a Linux-enabled PS3, it will be pretty hard to find since almost everyone will have updated.

BUT THE IMPORTANT POINT HERE is Sony's morals. You cannot advertise a feature for a product then remove it when it hinders you. That is wrong and should be illegal.

@Gradient: I find it total hypocrisy for loyal fanboys like you to condemn people who pirate games then say "Cry me a river b*tch, Sony can do whatever the hell they want with THEIR product." Firstly, it's now THE CONSUMER's product since they've bought it. You cannot force your unjust rules upon someone who has total ownership over their product.

Personally, I'm not going to update until Geohot releases a working custom firmware that will let me keep Linux and go on PSN. I don't use Linux now, but who knows, I might want to in the future.

"Cry me a river b*tch, Sony can do whatever the hell they want with THEIR product."

So... By your logic it would be perfectly fine for a car company to sell you a car, then tell you one day that if you don't bring it in to the dealership so that they can remove the radio, your warranty is void.

This doesn't affect my PS3 usage, but I don't like the precedent that it sets.

Cool to have for someone who wants to play with Linux, yes, but you can play with Linus on an old computer too. For the "Companies" that really made use of this, they were not playing PS3 games on the PSN. So what does this move mean to them? Nothing. They don't have to update the firmware. Their systems continue to work as is. So don't make the "Companies" using the PS3 as a supercomputer out to be the victim. That is not the case.

The writer is a moron, he thinks that this firmware update screws over those interested in building a cluster (in other words, those who haven't yet bought PS3s for this purpose), yet the feature has been gone since the introduction of the slim. It isn't like they are building any more fat PS3s so really they should be blaming the Slim (and there are probably a multitude of other reasons for removing the feature from the Slim).

The guy is just stirring the pot to gain hits.

Its hard to imagine that people who are tech savvy enough to install and use linux on their ps3 dont have a PC or a laptop to fall back on.
I mean if you can afford a ps3 i seriously doubt that you dont have a PC in your house. The ps3 is no PC replacement.

Sure its annoying that this happened and their may be some people with legitimate gripe but most people here are just being like children who only want to play with their old toys now that their parents want to give them away.

EDIT: As for super computer users, cant they just keep them offline with the old firmware and then route the data that needs to go online through another PC.

As far as I know, Sony just set a precedent that it is fine to remove features after you purchased a product that they advertise will be able to do.

I doesn't matter that it only affects a small portion of the consumer base, because Sony just took something that rightly belong to them.

Sony advertised:

a) All PS3 consoles can play all PS3 games

b) PS3 can run Linux/Other OS

Now, I'm forced to do pick one or the other. I hope Sony seriously get sued and loose to set a precedent that it is not fine to sell a product then step all over your customers by removing features for the convenience of the manufacturer!!!

Just don't run the update. If you're using the PS3 for this type of thing, chances are you don't care if you're connect to the PSN or not.

Seriously, why is this such a big deal?

@idlesung

PSN is not a feature is a service, Sony decide who uses their services as does MS, just ask the banned xbox360 users.

The same with games requiring FW 3.21+ (none so far). It's up to you if you want to play them, not Sony.

Keep Linux, dont connect to the PSN (consider yourself "banned") and play your already owned games offline.

Ontopic: I'm pretty sure PS3 used in a research/HPC environment arent used for gaming purposes or watching BDs.

@iddlesung

Oh you fail to see my point :(

My point is: SOny is not removing the feature YOU ARE. Sony is just saying you cant access their services if you dont.

It is a big deal because it sets a precedent that the manufacturer can remove a feature at will after a product has been sold and in customers hand.

How many people is affected isn't even relevant because this could apply to anything. Imagine if Sony cited PS2 software BC gives people the opportunity to play pirated PS2 games so they are going to remove it. At a minimum they should compensate consumers somehow for the downgrade instead of slapping them in the face with an insult.

@raztad

PSN is a service and I never discussed that. The issue is that PS3 games are not a service and neither is the ability to install Linux. I will not be able to play all future Blu-Ray movies or PS3 games even if I stay offline. It doesn't solve the issue so what is your point?

Xbox 360's issue of banned user are:

a) Xbox Live is a service and in their terms of service they clearly state what you agreed to when you sign up.

b) piracy was not an advertised feature that MS decided to remove

@raztad again:

Yeah, I'm removing a feature in order to use another feature. Great! I guess if you already have that sense of twisted logic, then there is no point in discussing.

Again, playing PS3 games is not a service. PSN is, but that is not part my discussion in this thread ever! Re-read my comments before you respond!!!

@ Gradient

Well, sure, Sony can do whatever they want with their product - until people buy that product based on an advertised feature set.

Any court and jury will be able to deduce that Sony gained a marketing advantage by advertising the PS3 as 'linux capable'.

Any court and jury will be able to deduce that SOny was able to garner additional sales based on this feature alone.

The fact that it has been removed after the point of sale constitutes a breach of consumer rights.

There will be a lawsuit and it will be Sony crying afterwards, not consumers. The law will see to it.

Cannot wait, quite frankly.

Can you imagine the outburst of rage from the Sony fanboys if MS decided to remove paid-for-features from xbl after consumers had already paid for them?
..
Yet, somehow, the equivalent behaviour is ok for Sony.
Well. The mind boggles.

Come on lawsuit!

Sorry Pandamobile, but you don't qualify as a PS3 owner. Its sad and annoying to think that you do.

When I bought mine it was for the specific reason that it was for BC, a BR player that upscaled regular DVDs and a web browser that at least let me watch Youtube. Other OS only came on my radar because I heard about SNES game emulation. And even then I never bothered because I already had my PS1, PS2 and PS3 game libraries. Did do enough research to also know that it would be too much of a chore to get them running.

How does it as they stopped making fat PS3's with the ability anyways. So those who use it for supercomputing instead of gaming will have no need to update their PS3's. Just yet another stupid article by a cry baby who was hoping to get piracy on PS3.

'Frankly, this was a selfish move on Sony’s part, and a big hit to low-cost supercomputing.'
just stfu...they have every right to protect their bottom line.

Like what the writer himself stated, if your PS3s are used for supercomputing, you sure ain't gonna play games on them so this update will NOT affect the PS3 clusters.

Why the F@#$ would Sony support super computing using their hardware? They are taking losses for every unit sold, Sony isn't some charity organisation for poor programmers (yea i'm sure the US military is poor), they have NO obligation to support them.

The thing that's beyond me is the fact that the writer clearly understood these points yet still blabber bullsh%t like 'Frankly, this was a selfish move on Sony’s part, and a big hit to low-cost supercomputing.' Mentally challenged perhaps?

I wonder if the majority of the people defending Sony here also defend Apple's choice to not have an open system...

I also wonder if they'd be more upset if Geohot had cracked something with WiFi and Sony decided to take that out, or if Sony said it's a PS3 Go now, and you can only download games if you want to use PSN...

You hate Sony, love Microsoft, and this news is giving you a boner. We get it. How about you be the first one to sue Sony? I'm sure you own a PS3 and use linux everyday.

@iddle

It's not twisted logic, just simple logic.

Sony is not to blame if you can't access PSN for whatever reason and you bought MAG or LBP. So there is no chances for a successful lawsuit against Sony because you removed the OtherOS because you DECIDED to do so.

Anyways, I understand Sony would prefer to pay some bucks but not having piracy run wild in the PS3 as happened with the PSP. It's just a price to pay.

I don't care about PSN as it is a service.

I'm saying, can I play God of War 4 or Uncharted 3 without the software update? NO!

I'm forced to pick between two features and there is NO OPTION plain and simple.

@Dacapn
Whatever makes you feel better. It doesn't change whatever I said is true.

@frosty below:
Are you saying that I can play any future PS3 games without a software update? That the game will never require me to have a specific firmware to play it?

Think about that carefully before you answer, cause I think it is clear who the "fool" is.

I think someone forgot to tell this fool that you do not have to update to the new firmware if you are using the ps3 for supercomputing. Only to enjoy the new gaming features and PSN do you have to update.

"I'm saying, can I play God of War 4 or Uncharted 3 without the software update? NO! "

Actually, yes you can. you just can't play them on psn.

This article doesn't make any sense... It's just an excuse to b*tch @ Sony.

The other OS feature was pulled from NEW units with the Slim already so it's not like you could buy new PS3s with the feature and they're just deactivating it for old boxes, now. If you're using an old PS3 as a Linux box instead of a gaming machine you don't need patches/upgrades for the Sony OS anyway so keep using the old box.

The Slim dropping the feature was a MUCH bigger issue for super computing than the retroactive patch. Because it meant you can't replace cluster units that die with new hardware.

"Frankly this was a selfish move on Sony's part"

Yeah Sony no longer gives away computers at below market value so companys can purchase large quantities of them for their supercomputing needs with no intention of purchasing software/hardware to help Sony recoup the losses they likely still sell the ps3 at. How dare them.

I would think the fact that they allowed it for over 3 years now shows just how selfish they are o_O

I'm sorry but I don't see why removing this feature has turned in to such a big deal. Sony are looking out for their profits and their gamers. Piracy = fewer profits from game production = less game development = less games for you = less games for pirates... ironic.

@iddle

Probably you wont be able to play them. I would expect Sony require 3.21+ compliance for any new game. However that's your problem not Sony's. You still can play all available games OFFLINE, it's not Sony's fault your PS3 software is not uptodate to run the latest games.

If I was so attached to my Linux in the PS3 (or was interested in piracy to take off, many would love to play UC3 w/o paying for it) I wouldnt update, and wait for some magic CFW from the guy that started all this sh!t in first place. It may happen sometime it may not.

Thank you for acknowledging my question.

I disagree that it is my problem that I can't play the latest games when that is what I was promised when the console was sold to me by Sony.

If you support that, well one day you might just find that Sony disabled the ability to allocate more than 5GB of hard drive space, because some smock figured out a way to boot PS3 games off the hard drive.

I have no issue with them removing the feature from PS3 slim, although I wish they didn't. It was fairly clear up front that the feature was removed at the time of purchase.

Sony is the only console manufacturer this generation that is removing features from their console and now they are actively removing existing features.

well removing features is awesome come on this is proof that Sony is starting to lose touch with its consumers

@idle

I know the removal of OtherOS sucks but frankly speaking, what were you expecting Sony to do? sit quietly while the system get fully hacked? you got to be real on this one.

Your hypothesis about removal of gaming related features doesnt make sense. That's just not happening. I understand you are pissed about something you paid for, still you are one among a very small minority and Sony knows it.

BTW I do agree Sony is the only manufacturer reducing features. It has been doing so since the first PS3 revision in order to drive the costs down. I would love to have PS2 B/C much better than OtherOS for example. However the PS3 is still the better machine feature wise among all consoles, just happened the original PS3 was too gloated for its own good.

@Commodore
Read the Terms of Service agreement. Sony will NOT lose the lawsuit. It specifically states in the Terms of Service (which you automatically agree to upon signing up for PSN or even buying the console) that they reserve the right to add and remove features/utilities and functions. Read it before you start crying. There's absolutely NOTHING people can do. And quite frankly everybody needs to quit crying over it and being such titty-babies.

To everyone else, like Death, who says the feature was taken away for "apparently no reason", are y'all that dense? Did you seriously miss the entire news about how that punk kid GeoHot (or whatever his name is) posted across the entire internet about how he worked out a hack for the system by exploiting the Linux feature? And have y'all completely missed how serious companies are taking piracy these days and the stand they're taking against it in order to prevent it as much as possible? Have you noticed what piracy does to systems (look at the PSP or PC)? All that aside, yea it was totally out of left field that Sony decided to remove this (sarcasm). So let's start placing blame rightfully on GeoHot for forcing Sony's hand on this.

Seriously people get over it. A very very small handful of people actually use the Linux feature on PS3. And half the people that used it then probably aren't even that worried about it because they simply used it because they could and it saved them from having to move between the PS3 and the computer or something.

Y'all seriously act like this move by Sony is completely out of the blue and that they have no logical reason to be doing this. Like this completely surprised y'all and you have no idea why Sony would do it. Surely y'all people can't be that blind. Also seems to me that most of the people b*tching are just fanboys that want to bash the system and the company every chance they get. Get over it. There was a threat of piracy that some punk kid posted all over the internet. Sony responded by taking away that avenue used to exploit the system. They can do that. I don't care how many of you cry and try to spout off legal claims that they aren't entitled to do so because you paid for the feature.

http://www.scei.co.jp/ps3-e...
Read it people before you start running your mouths like you know what you're talking about (specifically Commodore who wants to try to act all legal about it). Especially read Section 9 (Maintenance and Upgrades) which specifically covers issues like this where they say they reserve the right to change the operating system and also remove features. So they're covered. Any lawsuits brought to them over this issue will be laughed out of court. And just a bunch of butthurt fanboys will be left still crying because Sony didn't get in trouble for doing something they were legally entitled to do, that they even told you about, that they had to do in order to preserve their system's security and something that didn't even truly affect 99% of you people.

So in closing: Get over it people. Let it go. No amount of whining will change things as long as Linux poses a threat to Sony and their wallet. You want to stand a better chance of getting it reinstated, then everybody start ganging up on GeoHot, quit supporting him, drive him away. Then the threat is gone and we can rest easy. Who knows, maybe even Sony takes time to get holes plugged in the Linux OS and puts it back out when it's more secure. Until then by no means does anyone have the right to complain about such a company seeking to protect their investment by ensuring that their system doesn't get hacked, especially when the ToS says they can remove things like that when they want.

Lol why would I want the title of "PS3 Owner"?

So this is the new "PS3 hate" articles now? I guess the "other" fanbase ran out of something to complain/talk about

Without pirates, the move would not have been necessary.

@Tripewire

"Basically, we haven't heard any of the people who actually use PS3s in supercomputer clusters complain about the removal of the otherOS feature at all.

Just xbox fanboys."

Thank you very much! I haven't seen one single person of any real use complain about this. None of the supercomputer users. No researchers, nothing like that. Just fanboys. They're just trying to use researchers as a sort of excuse for their agenda. That's to bash Sony. When they should really be bashing GeoHot for being the one rotten apple that spoils it for the whole bunch. Nobody of importance has complained about this happening though as it really doesnt affect people. It's just something for people to complain about.