The OtherOS removal case has been amended to address deficiencies the judge had found in the original filing. It also brings some new allegations into the case.
The new allegations claim that OtherOS was removed for financial reasons, rather than what was originally claimed by Sony as it being a security vulnerability. It also adds that IBM was unhappy as the military were using PS3’s as servers rather than the much more expensive blade servers. These new allegations bring an interesting twist, as the outcome could potentially affect the Geohot v Sony case as well.
To quote:
The Amended Complaint claims that Sony Computer Entertainment America didn’t remove OtherOS functionality due to security concerns. It had other options, if security had been the real issue. It was done, they claim, for financial reasons, and that Sony’s justification for the removal of Linux functionality was “false”, chosen so Sony could rely on the wording of various terms. They also point a finger at IBM, claiming that possibly IBM was not happy about the military using PS3s for clustering, instead of buying IBM Blades servers:
159. SCEA suggested initially that the removal of the “Other OS” function from the “fat” models in April 2010 was for security and intellectual property reasons.
160. On its website, SCEA wrote: Why did you delete the “Other OS” feature?
A. To protect the intellectual property of the content offered on the PS3 system as well as to provide a more secure system for those users who are enjoying games and other entertainment content on the PS3 system, we have decided to delete the feature to address security vulnerabilities of the system.
161. This statement is a fabrication. SCEA gave these reasons as a pretext so that it could attempt to argue that the Warranty, SSLA, and/or TOS allowed for the removal of the “Other OS” feature. In reality, SCEI and SCEA removed this feature because it was expensive to maintain (as they previously admitted when the feature was removed from the “slim” models – but which they conveniently removed from SCEA’s website); they were losing money on every PS3 unit sold (due to poor decisions in the planning and design of the Cell chip as noted above and given the PS3’s extra features); SCEA needed to promote and sell games to make their money back on the loss-leading PS3 consoles (and there was no profit in users utilizing the computer functions of the PS3); and IBM wanted to sell its expensive servers utilizing the Cell processor (users could cluster PS3s for the same purposes much less expensively).
Comment below with your views and opinions on the court case.
xino
March 12, 2011 at 11:57 PMeye for an eye, tooth for a tooth!
Sony removed OtherOS people paid for and think they can get away with it.
valleyshrew
April 12, 2011 at 8:18 AMSony didn’t forcibly remove otherOS. If you still wanted it, you didn’t have to update the firmware. You have no right when you purchased a ps3 to use the PSN or play the newest games. Those things will not be still going in 10 years time. Sony lose money on ps3s so they want people who buy them to be buying games or blu-rays.
Sony had no choice and it’s unfair consumers are criticising them for it. They are the company that put the most effort and money back into designing games. Microsoft only have a few developers. Nintendo only release cheap toys. Sony give lots of time and money to developers like Fumito Ueda to produce games with artistic integrity. Gran turismo 5 was given an unprecedented amount of time and money for a driving game. Sony are releasing more hardcore exclusives than anyone else. They deserve a lot of credit. Microsoft, Nintendo, Apple, Google, etc. have all sued people and done various egregious business practices, yet we let them off the hook for some reason, and not Sony. Even Valve have done some pretty bad things in terms of DRM and not funding much new game development despite taking 30% of all game sales on steam. Where does that money go? Into gabe’s pockets. Where does Sony’s profits go? Back into developing more and more quality games. Without Sony, the game industry would be a much worse place. Imo only Rockstar would be a bigger loss. We could do without nintendo or microsoft.