Air Force Unhappy With Removal of Linux from PS3
There were a lot of unhappy people when Sony disabled Linux support on the PS3 and it seems among them was one of Sony's biggest customers: The United States Air Force.
You might remember back in November when we reported on the Air Force's plans to purchase more than 2,000 PS3s to create a PS3 cluster. The USAF already had a cluster of 336, and they were looking to expand that by adding 2,200 more PS3s. While Sony decided not to offer Linux support with the PS3 Slim, the older models came with Sony's Other OS feature, allowing users to install Linux and do all kinds of neat things with their consoles -- including stitching together thousands of consoles to form one huge, monster cluster.
While the removal of Linux is not an immediate issue for the Air Force because they're not relying on Sony for its firmware updates, it will be an issue when it comes to repairs. Ars Technica reached out the the Air Force to ask how they felt about the removal of Linux and the USAF said they would continue to use the PS3s they already have but admitted that the removal of Linux will make it difficult for them to replace any systems.
"We will have to continue to use the systems we already have in hand," the lab said, before adding, "This will make it difficult to replace systems that break or fail. The refurbished PS3s also have the problem that when they come back from Sony, they have the firmware (gameOS) and it will not allow Other OS, which seems wrong. We are aware of class-action lawsuits against Sony for taking away this option on systems that use to have it.
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Beastly
I said this right from the start.
Oh Sony, you really should think before you act!
Good luck fighting a law suit against the US gov't!
I always thought that one of the reasons the PS3 isn't cracked was the smart guys already have access to Linux. Now that its been taken away I think there will be a lot more motivated people out there wanting a nice challenge. They know it can run Linux, they've seen it running for sure "on their own system!"...
Just install the older firmware when they come back from repair..? Wipe the HDD and install it from a USB stick.
Oh, and sue Sony's arse 'cos that's what they are a pain in...
What's Sony reason for removing Linux support? This move seems akin to shooting oneself in the foot, and denying a huge support base the opportunity of fostering competition and innovation.