Sony's turn to get ragged on, Class Action Suit by PS3 Owners. Apple safe for today - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

photon · 05-01-2010, 04:26 PM

http://www.thinq.co.uk/news/2010/4/2...er-os-removal/

Not sure if anyone is following this, basically Sony has patched the PS3 to remove a major piece of functionality that it launched with.. the ability to install and boot to another OS (Linux).

They say it was done to prevent piracy, and that could be legit but it raises the question again of ownership and what ownership means.

If I buy something I expect it to operate and have the features I purchased at least keep operating. Now one could argue that I am not forced to upgrade the firmware; I can stay on an older firmware and maintain the previous functionality but that assumes that a) I am even made aware that that upgrade is going to remove that functionality and b) that I can continue to use the PS3 even if I don't upgrade.

a) you could argue they did since it was in the patch notes, but it's pretty significant so it should have been even more apparent. It's kind of like taking my car in for a recall notice and getting it back and the power locks have been removed because someone had hacked the code and were using a home built remote to unlock cars... fixing the power locks would be the right thing, not just taking them out.

b) of course isn't even true... almost everything you do on the PS3 requires an upgrade. Even if you had never connected your console to a network you'd still have to do firmware upgrades to play the games, so the patches aren't optional, they're required in order to use the product as it was intended.

I hope this goes somewhere but I suspect Sony will settle out of court and each PS3 owner will get a free game or a coupon or something in compensation. I don't think Sony would want this to go to court since a judgment would actually mean something for all these companies that hide behind the EULA to keep control over the stuff they "sell".

SebC · 05-01-2010, 04:30 PM

Not the first time Sony has done something stupid "to prevent piracy". Anyone remember the RootKit?

DownhillGoat · 05-01-2010, 04:43 PM

Odd, considering they touted that feature at launch.

The PS3 is getting progressively worse, not better. First they removed the backwards compatibility, now this. Although I doubt I'd ever actually load another OS on, it's still frustrating that they're removing features.

Esoteric · 05-01-2010, 05:31 PM

Wow, I'm suprised at the 10 people using Linux on their PS3s actually filed a class action lawsuit.

Personally, I don't care about it. If they removed something vital to the main function of the system (playing games or watching Blu Rays), I'd be upset, but since this has no bearing on my use of the PS3, I really don't care.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

The PS3 is getting progressively worse, not better. First they removed the backwards compatibility, now this. Although I doubt I'd ever actually load another OS on, it's still frustrating that they're removing features.

It's a different case though, they didn't remove it from existing systems, only took it out of future units they product. Plus, the price has been dropped considerably in newer version, so if people want to play PS2 games, just buy a PS2.

DownhillGoat · 05-01-2010, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esoteric

It's a different case though, they didn't remove it from existing systems, only took it out of future units they product. Plus, the price has been dropped considerably in newer version, so if people want to play PS2 games, just buy a PS2.

It's still removing functionality from the same system without giving consumers the option to buy the older version, the price drop wasn't due to the removal of that function, and I really have no desire to have another system sitting in my living room.

Hack&Lube · 05-01-2010, 08:17 PM

A lot of institutions use PS3 clusters for parallel computing and they would be annoyed at this, then again, those same institutions (including the US Navy) probably wouldn't update the firmware anyway.

Roast Beef · 05-01-2010, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esoteric

Wow, I'm suprised at the 10 people using Linux on their PS3s actually filed a class action lawsuit.

Personally, I don't care about it. If they removed something vital to the main function of the system (playing games or watching Blu Rays), I'd be upset, but since this has no bearing on my use of the PS3, I really don't care.

It's a different case though, they didn't remove it from existing systems, only took it out of future units they product. Plus, the price has been dropped considerably in newer version, so if people want to play PS2 games, just buy a PS2.

They did remove the feature from existing systems though. Sure you can choose to not update the firmware but then you are locked out of the Playstation Network and store. You can't play games online. New games that require the latest firmware will not play. And Blu-Ray movies with newer encryption keys (Avatar) will not play. I believe that you will also lose the networking capability as well so you can't stream audio or video from your PC to the PS3.

Esoteric · 05-02-2010, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roast Beef

They did remove the feature from existing systems though. Sure you can choose to not update the firmware but then you are locked out of the Playstation Network and store. You can't play games online. New games that require the latest firmware will not play. And Blu-Ray movies with newer encryption keys (Avatar) will not play. I believe that you will also lose the networking capability as well so you can't stream audio or video from your PC to the PS3.

I was referring to Backwards compatibility. They did not remove the functionality of BC from systems that already had it.

Roast Beef · 05-02-2010, 01:15 PM

Ah ok. My bad.

CaramonLS · 05-02-2010, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

I hope this goes somewhere but I suspect Sony will settle out of court and each PS3 owner will get a free game or a coupon or something in compensation. I don't think Sony would want this to go to court since a judgment would actually mean something for all these companies that hide behind the EULA to keep control over the stuff they "sell".

Agreed Photon.

Upgrades to firmware are mandatory for pretty much any new game - so what choice did we have when we signed this agreement? I guess I could have clicked "no" and then not have been allowed to play that new game I just bought.

I am a PS3 user and this really doesn't affect what I do with my PS3, but Sony shouldn't be allowed to remove features originally advertised that I paid for at will.

BlackEleven · 05-02-2010, 09:06 PM

Well I'm one of the people who ran Linux on the PS3, so needless to say I wad upset about losing my Linux partition. I hope Sony is forced to restore the functionality, but I'm not holding my breath for that one. I'm tired of vendors telling me what I can and cannot do with my hardware. Sony is not the only company guilty of that; it's unfortunately becoming increasingly prevelant.

SebC · 05-03-2010, 12:29 AM

PS3
IT
ONLY
DOES
EVERYTHING*

*or at least it did, until we started discontinuing and removing functionaility

burnin_vernon · 05-03-2010, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roast Beef

They did remove the feature from existing systems though. Sure you can choose to not update the firmware but then you are locked out of the Playstation Network and store. You can't play games online. New games that require the latest firmware will not play. And Blu-Ray movies with newer encryption keys (Avatar) will not play. I believe that you will also lose the networking capability as well so you can't stream audio or video from your PC to the PS3.

I just set that up tonight (PS3 3.15) and it does still work. Apparently the hotshot tech kid, GeoHot, has found a way to beat the update's restrictions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-9wLWQ4-uA