The next system software update for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) system will be released on April 1, 2010 (JST), and will disable the “Install Other OS” feature that was available on the PS3 systems prior to the current slimmer models, launched in September 2009. This 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.
In addition, disabling the “Other OS” feature will help ensure that PS3 owners will continue to have access to the broad range of gaming and entertainment content from SCE and its content partners on a more secure system.
Consumers and organizations that currently use the “Other OS” feature can choose not to upgrade their PS3 systems, although the following features will no longer be available;
- Ability to sign in to PlayStation Network and use network features that require signing in to PlayStation Network, such as online features of PS3 games and chat
- Playback of PS3 software titles or Blu-ray Disc videos that require PS3 system software version 3.21 or later
- Playback of copyright-protected videos that are stored on a media server (when DTCP-IP is enabled under Settings)
- Use of new features and improvements that are available on PS3 system software 3.21 or later
For those PS3 users who are currently using the “Other OS” feature but choose to install the system software update, to avoid data loss they first need to back-up any data stored within the hard drive partition used by the “Other OS,” as they will not be able to access that data following the update.
Additional information about PS3 firmware updates, including v3.21 (once it becomes available), can be found here:
http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3/index.htm
PS3 owners who have further questions should contact Consumer Services:
http://us.playstation.com/support/ask/
800-345-7669 (800-345-SONY)
Didn’t download it… won’t download it… might sell my 60 and get an xbox… have never owned a non-Sony console, what a waste of loyalty. Screw this… I wonder why Sony had to trot out a “Senior Director” to announce this? Probably the regular director wouldn’t do it.
yay! I have sound again. Unplugged the HDMI cable and tried other HDMI ports. Must have been an HDMI handshake issue.
It stinks they had to remove this because of the piracy groups out there.
Everyone who signed on to a PS3 and clicked OK to the license agreement was then contractually held to an agreement that Sony and SCEA could change how their software acted at any time, even without you knowing. If you didn’t like it you should have taken it back when you found out. Sony has done nothing wrong and nothing against the law. Underhanded, maybe, illegal no. Does it disrupt some people, yes. Does it break any laws, no. You can still pull out your little hard drive and install linux until your eyes pop out. Will you be allowed to access it through SCEA software, no. Why? Because you entered into a contract with them that they have the right to do as they feel necessary to keep their software stable and secure.
End of discussion, I’m sorry it may suck for you and that’s just to bad. As my grandfather and father told me as a child “life sucks, get a helmet.”
Ok, obviously with over a hundred pages in days, and no comments in red (sony), either they are hiding, or its a joke…. but why is the system update page saying this is real?
I have a talledega nights ps3, with a 320 drive, yellow dog, and no other computer! This is not funny. I have a copy of fedora 11 I’ve wanted to try….
I bought a ps3 to play games, movies, and run Linux.
I hunted down and purchased another 60 for my brother, so he would have. Same options.
In short I’ve spent over a grand for consoles, and a core feature loss is not acceptable. If you want to do this, give me my money back, and I’ll keep the consoles.
On the system update page it says you won’t remove features, so this is false advertising, and thus you are now open to suit on that basis, any takers?
So if joke-not funny
If true-you called this s-storm on yourself.
Either way bad pool.
This is EXTREMELY disappointing Sony. I bought the PS3 because it’s SUPPOSED TO DO EVERYTHING according to your own slogan! I was hoping that I could stream video content from a network drive but found that the PS3 can read very few of the good/popular formats… and the files that it actually does stream pause every five minutes when my TV can play them back from the same drive with no such interruptions.
Then I thought that Linux might actually provide a decent alternative to the very poor media integration (have you used the “other” game console lately?) of XMB, so I could actually sort through and play my music in a reasonable manner, and AFTER SONY MANAGEMENT specifically states that the “Other OS” will not get removed from the older PS3 (google it), you go ahead and do it anyway. If that’s not lying to your customers then I do not know what is.
This might just be my last Sony product.
No surprise on this move as Sony only ever had the OtherOS option in the first place to try to get the lower computer tariffs instead of the consumer electronics tariffs in many countries. Funny how for having the the most secure unhacked console their attach rate is lower than the easily hacked Xbox 360 and their profit margins are terrible. Could it be that Sony is the last company on Earth to understand customers hate DRM. Between installing rootkits on peoples computers, destroying incentives for people to buy games like Spore instead of pirate and all around pissing off customers by trying to control those who spend money to keep you in business. Sony has not been the same since they got in bed with the media companies and bought a movie studio and their electronics have suffered since then due to a conflict of interest in the company. Just the fact we say iPod instead iWalkman should tell you how far behind the curve Sony has gotten. Sony may want to take a lesson from Toyota and realize that long term relationships with customers make better business sense than short term gains for shareholders using broken business models that piss off customers.
A lot of you think this is a joke. its no BS. i checked earlier. saw a vid on YT. guy updated his 60GB and he no longer has the Other OS feature.
Sony has just stolen from me. Sony took my O.S. I paid for I want some Compensation
“No surprise on this move as Sony only ever had the OtherOS option in the first place to try to get the lower computer tariffs instead of the consumer electronics tariffs in many countries.”
I wonder if they’ll have to pay the money that they were able to save my circumventing the higher teriffs with this feature… looks like bait and switch to me.
I also want a way to revert to the old firmware. I “clicked update” on my PS3 assuming foolishly that they weren’t going to be breaking my PS3… then I went over to the blog to see what new features were added, only to find this BS. Anyone have the old firmware that they could email to me?
I’m disappointed in you Sony. Whether we use it or not is not the point people. The point is some of us paid for a feature and now it’s being taken away with noting being given in return!I will not update until sony gives me a real reason too. Guess it’s back to Xbox,who has better online features anyway!
Sony at the very least needs to make sure its customers have the option of being able to downgrade to last version with OtherOS at any time. They can’t just pretend this feature never existed. Well they can but that might explain why they fallen into 3rd place in this gen of console sales (wasn’t that usually what place Sega was in?).
No real reason for this. Security can be patched easily enough without resorting to the bait and switch tactics.
The real question is how many people aren’t voicing their opinion on the blog because of the children who cant appreciate having a feature like this? I know of a few.
Unfortunately if the unit breaks you wont get the functionality back, so their solution of not upgrading is not practical.
I will just wait for the CFW to come out like it has for the PSP and move on with life. You all should do the same (for those who care about linux anyway).
Like Ajie said, Sony can do whatever they want to protect their system, so everyone quit being babies about it. You act like Sony just killed your puppy or something.
nategrey says:
[laughs] This is a crisis?
Reduction in size (fat becomes slim)
functions (note the sequence in 3.21)
what’s the next step?
seriously, I’m quite content at last; at the cost of legal action, you are going to reimburse me [for] the console. i’ve earned a pc (i won’t have done the update) and i’m gonna be able to buy your rivals’ house at little expense
Wait, what?
Sony is the perfect example of why it is not a good idea to have media companies design our electronics. Remember after all you did not buy your PS3 from Sony. You are only leasing at Sonys discretion. Therefore, Sony, has the right to tell you exactly what software you can run on it and if for whatever reason they decide they don’t like software you have then poof its gone. Ask Toyota how willing customers are to put up with the Japanese megacorp arrogance/hubris. Sony Electronic RIP, long live Sony Media and Sir Howard Stringer.
again lawsuit people foiled…what I posted early was the TOS for the updates and yes until you accept you aren’t legally binded….but when you created a PSN you DID agree to this…” Some content may be provided automatically without notice when you sign into PSN. Such content may include automatic updates or upgrades —->which may change your current operating systemYou authorize SCEA to provide such content<—- and agree that SCEA shall not be liable for any damages arising from provision of such content or maintenance services." Legally binding contract people, these little agreements noone EVER reads always win in court. Prospective lawyer to you, 'you agreed to this?? what can I do?? If you didn't agree why did you click o.k.?? you're SOL I can't fight this, sorry.'
screw you sony! i updated not even suspecting this and ruimed days of work and nothing to show for it. i’m going to sell my ps3 and buy a computer with microsoft 7. bill gates will thank you for this
People are complaining about this update, problem is few people gave support to Linux in this form. I don’t know if this is still going on with Sony seeing as how it was posted last year, but if it is, then it is not yet the end for Linux on a Ps3 for academic use. Just thought I should post this. Please don’t hate, they had their reasons for doing what they did.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/32378/Sony-unveils-academic-PS3-dev-kit
@GuardDawg1369
Maybe we can’t fight them but I wonder if the countries that got screwed out of the money Sony didn’t pay them can….
sony can lick my balls!
the only thing i couldn’t do on linux was watch youtube type streaming videos. other than that it was my personal computer. i played ps3 games just as much as i used the linux system but now i will not be doing either. ps3 sucks.
i’m sure it wasn’t a “security issue” people weren’t buying the ps3 slims. now if anyone wants a piece of crap game system that isn’t as cool as xbox360 they will just buy the slim since all ps3’s are worthless now
GuardDawg1369: Don’t know about the US, but most countries have consumer laws which contravene end-user license agreements — as has already been mentioned dozens of times in this thread. If they hide a clause in there saying they own your firstborn, for example, it’s not legally binding.
You guys all got april fooled lol
Sharpshoot: In one sense, yes. If you actually still think this is a joke, though, search Google News for the numerous BBC articles/etc.
this is not april fool, this is real. my linux system is gone
Wayno-san if they are able to get on PSN in their country and there is no TOS, doubtful, then yes they could. I’d put my $$$ on it though if sony or any company can’t protect themselves they won’t allow their service in that country legally. Bill Gates is retired btw. See this is like say I am having yard sale and I want to protect myself and my ins company if someone gets hurt during this…so I put up a sign, that says any all injuries are your responsibility and you release me and my ins company from any and all liability by crossing my property line and having ppl sign an agreement to that extent…then someone gets hurt and tries suing…well by law my ins company is responsible to cover them…but they agreed to release that liability under their own accord guess what, no lawsuit. I know sounds crazy but a case just like this was in our local court.
I own a 300zx despite its little quirks. I recommend Toyota despite the recent problems, people listen because I work in Quality Control and Toyota has long been the benchmark in the profession with their constant improvement methods. I used to recommend Sony because of their innovative designs like the Abio.. The “Move” almost had me spending cash again but, time and time again I am burned. I thought I learned my lesson with the Milo but, no. I thought I learned my lesson with the Network Walkman but, no. Everyone I work with is soured by similar experience., I was one of two “Sony-fanboys” left in the entire plant, That changes tonight. So much for that Bravia 3Dtv.
yeah i will never buy another sony product again. i hope sony goes out of business
watchdawg you do realise the PS3 was hacked thru linux thus yes it’s a security concern. look it up.
I sold my Sony stock ( Microsoft as well ) just before the economy tanked..
VERY GLAD.. don’t own any this day.
YOU CANNOT SIGN YOUR RIGHTS AWAY WITH ANY CONTRACT. EULA, TOS ANYTHING. GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD.
Very disappointing.
I use linux on my PS3, paid for it and have spent quite a bit of time setting it up properly and installing free software to use my PS3 as the advertised “more-than a video game system”.
I also play quite a few online games and now need to make a decision. Very poor decision Sony.
Now, I can’t play this weekend, cause I need to back up my 500GB hard drive, and then format it to remove linux, and then restore my drive and then do the update. Total time 15+ hours.
Are we removing DivX playback next? or maybe I should plan on deleting all of my mp3s or photos, and not use this system as a photo viewer for my family photos.
Looks like my ps3 is now an xbox, with less features.
When are you going to bring the Other OS back? Just fix the hole and give us our stuff back.
I’m not upgrading the firmware until Other OS is re-implimented. I’m gonna find other stuff to do in the meantime.
THE PS3 WAS NOT HACKED.
There was some progress being made on unlocking the restrictions put on the Linux side of things by Sony– i.e., no access to the GPU. But the gaming side of the PS3– the one the Sony Defense Force claims is the only functions of the PS3 that matters– was NOT hacked.
And even if it WAS hacked, this is NOT YOUR SECURITY SONY IS WORRYING ABOUT. A non-hacked PS3 would NOT run unsigned code no matter what so there is NO chance of a virus, spyware, etc, spreading through the internet. That’s just FUD put out by Sony to try to cover their tracks on this.
This firmware was a knee jerk reaction by Sony thinking that if they shut down Linux, no further progress would be made. Sony apparently thinks hackers will go “Gee, look, shiny new firmware upgrade– ARGH! We lost our Linux! Whatever shall we do?” Instead, they won’t upgrade, and now they have a “calling” to try to hack the system back into place and how it used to be.
Seriously, Sony, you need a corporate archivist or historian to document how inflaming the very customers that are the most technically capable to break it is a REALLY BAD IDEA. I bet the chances of real CFW release in the next 6 months went from under 10% to about 95% now.
Besides Blue-ray, backward compatibilty for 2 generations (not included on the slim), built-in wi-fi, and the ability to install another hard drive(also not included on the slim), the option of using another OS on the PS3 was one of the features I used to brag about to the haters(since I had the 60gig). I hope Sony comes up with an alternative to solve their “security concerns” and releases a new update to re-install the other OS feature. If not, it’s yet ANOTHER bad move by Sony.
Play in Peace.
Consumer laws are in place to protect the consumer from illegal and outlandish EULAs…not make them useless. There was no law broken lol or anything outlandish in the EULA.
@ xyzsource
Im sorry but i trust the experts who made the machine, they know the machine better than anyone so i will trust them and their update.
——————————————————————
Really? Keep in mind it was these experts who didn’t think to properly secure the RAM to prevent exactly this sort of exploit. The only reason that this was even done was not piracy, but because of the limited access to the GPU caused by hypervisor restrictions. Now though the hackers smell blood because their concern about this points to a potential flaw in their disk based security below the encryption layer.
YOU DO NOT OWN THE SOFTWARE….PROVE PEOPLE WRONG THEN SUE SONY LOL AGAIN GOOD LUCK WITH THAT. ummmmm ddkghost since when can’t you upgrade the slims hard drive lmao might want to chech that again….looks at my upgraded slim roflmao.
@ Buzzy42
Well, the hypervisor was bypassed, which was not intended by Sony, so I’d describe that as a hack.
But still, you can’t run PS3 games via this hack. It’s only use is to expose the inner workings of the PS3. So the hackers, who are the only ones that found the hack useful, will just not upgrade and still be able to use it.
This really is the most ineffective “security” solution I’ve seen in my life. It actually does not affect any hacker at all. Only legitimate users. Pretty sad really.
I have a strong feeling that Sony are not reading any of these comments…
@ GuardDawg1369
Who knows, maybe there were consumer laws broken by Sony. Maybe not in the US, but it’s a big world out there. Lots of countries have many different consumer laws. It’s very unusual for a company to remove a major feature from their product. If people bought the product with intent to use that feature, their purchase has been partially invalidated. I’d say there’s a pretty good chance that action goes against many consumer laws.
We have 4 ps3s.
Originally 2 for games, linux and folding – then my business started using “fixstars codecsys” – we got another 2. near on 3k just on ps3’s.
The plan now is to get one dead bluray ps3 for codecsys and only update one ps3 to the new firmware.
The the other 3 will stay on the old firmware in the hope of the hackers cracking it.
Congratulations Sony – You have lost a paying customer – And gained (i hope) a future pirate.
So when I go to a pro sports game and get hurt by a flying object on THEIR property I can sue the stadium owners?? Because the law states private property owners are responsible for their property??? NO I CAN NOT BECAUSE WHEN I BOUGHT THE TICKET I RELEASED LIABILTY, GIVING UP MY RIGHT IN A CONTRACT….genius.
Part1. I know that some on here find this whole ordeal to be petty. But it is not, really. Many of us paid a lot of money for our PS/3’s… early adopters who wanted all the cool options Sony flaunted at us. This incident show at least two things wrong here.
First, a company that I trusted, just retro-actively removed a feature that I paid for. I can no longer trust them not to remove or disable some other feature of a device I paid for. Honestly, what’s to stop them from removing the ability to say, play BluRay movies from someone who maybe bad-mouths them in a forum like this? The TOS most likely gives them this right.
Part2. Which brings up the TOS, that gets updated every friggin time you do anything on this system. These things need some serious work. These are as bad as all those shrink-wrap TOS licenses you’ve encountered. “Agree to this or else the device you legally purchased will cease to function as purchased”. When you first purchase it, you at least have the option of not agreeing to the TOS, boxing it back up, and getting a refund. Two years down the road, you no longer have that option. You either agree, or you have a useless device. This is almost extortion. There is no option to take it back and get a refund, you either comply or you have a pretty doorstop. This is wrong.
Dakh doesn’t matter what country you are in you DO NOT own any of the software. Thus it belongs to Sony. You are are licensed to use it based on a binding contract you agreed to.
Part3. This is most likely my last post. I have been a Sony user for many years. I have owned many Sony devices including camcorders (three), two VAIO laptops (the first was $4500), Walkmans, stereo equipment, TV’s, several PlayStations, several PS/P’s (some I gave as gifts), and even an AIBO. I am now done with Sony. I realize I am only one of millions, but it is what it is, and it’s a matter of principal to me. I can no longer trust Sony to not take away something else. And I have not even re-installed and used the “other os option” since I upgraded my hard-drive a year or so ago. But if a company has so little regard for its customers to not come up with another livable option, then it’s time to part ways. And I now protest with my wallet.
C’est la vie
oh yeah, sony, lick my balls
@ GuardDawg1369
You do realise that that we’re talking about consumer law, not ownership. Sony sold the product on the basis that it could do this set of functions. If they take back functionality, they may be in violation of consumer law. Regardless of whether they own the software or not, they have licensed the software for use to the consumer. There are laws which govern that relationship.