Sony Refuses PS3-Linux Reimbursment
Gamers around the world are still furious over Sony’s recent decision to remove the popular “OtherOS” feature from their PlayStation 3′s. This feature allowed gamers to install Linux and other popular Operation System’s onto their PS3. Once an important selling point early in the console’s life, Sony entirely removed the feature in the slimmed down 120GB PS3, which released last September. However, the option was still available to all of the earlier models of the PlayStation 3′s–the “Fat” models. Sony made the decision to remove the feature, from all models, when noted iPhone jailbreaker known as Geohot “100% hacked the PS3“. Obviously, this worried Sony, as they would not allow their behemoth vulnerable to hacking, which would lead down the road to open piracy. So earlier this month, they removed the feature from all versions of the console, via firmware 3.21. Gamers who did not want to download the mandatory update would not be able to play the newest version of Blu-Rays or connect to the PlayStation Network. With this incident, many gamers are crying foul play and are demanding reimbursement for their console. Unfortunately, it seems like Sony won’t be playing that game.
A Sony representative commented on Amazon UK’s recent decision to partially refund the price of a PlayStation 3, after the disgruntled owner cited broken European consumer protection law–most notable, the Sales of 
Goods Act. However, a recent comment from PR head honcho David Wilson cemented Sony’s position, saying that Sony will not reimburse retailers who offer refunds to gamers who are upset over the Linux removal.
“We do understand the frustration a small number of consumers may feel at SCE’s decision to provide an upgrade to the firmware to disable the Linux operating system but we refute any suggestion that this action is in any way a contravention of the terms of Sale of Goods Act.”
Wilson continued, calling the PS3 “first and foremost a games console”.
“The PS3 is first and foremost a games console and our marketing materials for the console reflect this. The console packaging and the in-box manual for the console do not refer to the use of Linux on the console. Rather, the console packaging states that the product’s design and specifications are subject to change without notice and that the system software within the console is subject to a limited licence between SCE and the consumer, and this licence permits SCE to update the system software and services offered from time to time.”
Certainly, this will just add more fuel to the fire. The argument of gamers worldwide is that Sony advertised and talked about the OtherOS feature. Removing a feature they advertised breaks many of the consumer protection 
laws, worldwide. Many people are furious over Sony’s decision, and are seriously considering banding together, in a class action lawsuit. And they do have some ground to go on. Before the PlayStation 3 launched in November of 2006, Ken Kutaragi, then-President of SCE, praised the PS3, for being more than a computer.
“Speaking about the PS3, we never said we will release a game console. It is radically different from the previous PlayStation. It is clearly a computer.”
And let’s not forget about the “Open Platform” webpage, that clearly boasts the console’s ability to run a completely new Operating System. Or the GDC 2007 interview with Kai Staats, Co-Founder and CEO of Terra Soft Solutions, who explicitly states that Sony contracted his company to design a version of YellowDogLinux to run on the PlayStation 3.
However, Sony is not backing down. They cite that the same Sales of Goods Act gamers are using to their defense, can also be used to aid themselves.
“The provision in the Sale of Goods Act which requires an item to be fit for a purpose made known by the consumer to the retailer prior to purchase and confirmed by the retailer applies only to the contract between the retailer and the consumer. The decision by Amazon to give a consumer a partial refund is clearly between Amazon and the consumer, but we do not expect the decision to have a legal basis and we have no plans to compensate retailers.”
It will be interesting to see, over the coming months, whether a lawsuit is filed. Until then, we will all just have to hope Sony will add features to the PlayStation 3, not remove them. Did you ever use the “OtherOS” feature? If so, are you still using it? Did you update? Post your responses in the comments section below.
32 Responses to “Sony Refuses PS3-Linux Reimbursment”
Fuck linux..everyone needs to fuck off with this
i have used it on my old 40 fat to try various distributions of Linux, and found that the practicality of it left a lot to be desired. But yes I have used it, And it was a great feature to have. I can see where Sony is coming from, and I can see why some are angry being consumers, but in my case I give props to Sony for protecting there investment.
It was a cool feature, sure… but who buys a PS3 simply to use Linux?
People need shut the fuck up about this, OS is removed so deal with it, Its not end of the world, Why dont people get linx on PC its alot faster than PS3, I glad Sony Remove it because it not a fucking gaming thing, So if you want to blame someone, so then blame on geohot for hacking shit, If he never ixsist, that way sony wouldn’t force to remove the OS. Sony already suffering alot from PSP priacy.
^ your argument sucks =\
the psp didnt fail because of piracy, it failed because the games suck…
Wii had piracy since day nearly 1, same with the xbox… not really hurting them on the game front, same with the DS
I have to say I’ve NEVER seen Sony use the Other OS feature in any marketing promotion or in any adverrtising. Maybe they did in the US but I’ve certainly never seen them do so here in the UK.
Sony advertised the PS3 as more than a computer when it came out. I remember that. But frankly, do you believe everything you see or read? Do you always believe advertising? Do you honestly believe the “It does everything” advertisements? Because if you do then the PS3 should be able to drive your car too.
Frankly, I see advertisements that cover alot of sketchy ground when it comes to honesty. Ones that try to make you believe that doctors use their products more than any others. Ones that try to make you believe that some honest, third party research group thinks “such and such” a product is better than the rest.
The PS3 is not a computer. Linux is generally intended to work with a system that has lots of RAM and little streaming power. The PS3 has little RAM and lots of streaming power. There’s a reason why consoles remained popular when computers started getting better. And it’s how they work.
Frankly, the “Other OS” idea was cool and certainly novel but if it’s a security threat that prevents some company from licensing a product to a game developer (like say a Ford Fiesta to GT) then it’s a threat I don’t want on my system. Because face or not, companies with licensable products (like that Ford Fiesta) don’t like piracy and will withhold products because of it.
Maybe the should sue GeoHot (yes, I’m aware that I’m mad that he stopped jailbreaking the Iphone because he’s the only one who is actually good at it) for cracking their toys and making Sony respond in kind?
it dosen’t need to drive your car though UberSilenus because it is a car and it flies and can go underwater as well. The PS3 can do everything. EVERYTHING! ^_^
Unless you were looking for a PS3 for the specific reason to run Linux did anyone even know that it had the “Other OS” feature until they turned the damn thing on and found it in the settings list?? Sony has the right to remove this feature just like they had the right to remove backwards compatibility, 2 of the USB ports, the media card reader, and 30% of the plastic used when they changed it to the SLIM model. Honestly if people worried as much about things that were actually important in this world instead of such trivial pointless things like this then we would be able to eliminate half of the issues the world faces today. I’m so sick of hearing about people trying to sue this person for that, etc. All you greedy, selfish people should move to California so that when it falls off into the ocean you go down with it.
@giese, i read about the feature in my manual when i read it. as i do with all manuals with any new piece of electronic equipment i purchase. there is a reference in the manual pointing to the site mentioned in this article. am i pyst off otheros is gone, yes i am. will i join some silly class action lawsuit, nope. i did use it, ever hear of megabox? all the other things you refered to being removed were to cut costs on the manufacturing end, hense lowering the cost to the consumer. why sony decided to drop this feature from the slim is still a mystery. granted, alot of lawsuits are stupid and a waste of the coursts time and tax payer dollars. but, some are not and are intended to right the wrongs done to consumers. without them, where would the end user stand against these companies when they make such brash decisions.
What a bunch of crybabies. I’m pretty sure anyone who owns a ps3, either owns a pc or a laptop or both. And if they didn’t want to update, they should have gotten another ps3 and leave the older one without updating. Or simply stay with one console and just play the games that are already out and do not update. These assholes piss me off, just stfu.
i dont give a crap about it being gone…im just upset that i had to wait like 30 minutes to play my PS3 Slim when it never had the damn feature anyways…oh well i suppose
The “popular” other OS feature? Good grief.
Hey, I bought a Sony DVD player, and the multi-disk resume feature doesn’t work! I’m gonna sue!!!
Nah, I think I’ll just forget about it because it’s a minor inconvenience.
The PS3 is trademarked as a Computer Entertainment System. Funny how they’ve forgotten that so soon.
im glad to see that the majority of everyone that posts here is pretty much on the same side regarding this issue. unlike at the psblog and other sites…
personally i didnt care or was at all interested on running linux on the ps3. it definitely sucks for those that did use it (why they did use it i dont know) and the fact that a feature was removed. lets get real, running linux wasnt the main motivation for any of use to purchase our ps3. i guarantee nobody ran to the stores and spent $5-600 u.s. dollars on a ps3 because they heard it can run linux on it…right? and if u did your a moron. the ps3 will be fine with our without linux. i hope people just gtf over it.
@robodaddy-o
dont be ridiculous. its been scea since the psone days (maybe before).
You can literally run Linux flawlessly on a $100 (or less) netbook or desktop PC. As WestSiide said, why would anyone in their right mind buy a $500-$600 gaming console for a poorly-implemented OtherOS feature? I understand that at first it was fun to mess around with, but nobody can use this feature in the long term because of the lack of features and speed.
I love how all these “enlightened” people are saying piracy killed the PSP.
Do you people even think or do you just spout off everything a corporation tells you?
Did piracy kill the DS? There is a lot more piracy on the DS then there is on the PSP (since the 3000 and the Go there is ZERO piracy). Is piracy killing the 360? Looks like games still sell and when MS bricks their consoles they just go out and buy another one.
Yeah piracy killed the PSP….glad I didn’t drink the kool-aid.
like others said you could easily buy a computer if you wanted to mess around with linux , why on earth would you pick up a ps3 just for that ? if you didn’t want to loose this feature all you have to do is not downlaod the update. than buy a new ps3 to play online. i don’t even know any one that even used this feature.
I can understand that some people are upset over the removal of other os, but quite frankly it was a tack on feature that is kind of crappy because the ps3 hardware is locked up tight and you could run linux better and more efficiently on a pos laptop or computer than on the ps3. The feature was never worth it to exist in the first place. If you really used linux on your ps3 its time to open your eyes and spend 200 on a netbook or old laptop and have a much faster and better time than with the crap linux on the ps3.
I’ll just keep this short and sweet, if you losed Linux on the PS3 tons that sucks.
I’ll say this to everyone else, if you don’t like the fact your game machine you use for gaming can’t use Linux then don’t update and shut the hell up about it, if you’re in soo much fear that they will patch BC then don’t update, even though that too would be announced as a feature being taken away.
Point is, please, shut up
I guess I was the only one that noticed that it says that they are allowed to add and remove features for NO reason at all if they’d like to.
So let us all just ignore the added features, and not play the awesome games guys =]
lol its funny how everyone who is trying say Piracy didn’t kill the PSP can’t come up with a decent arguement. cause the games suck really? PS2 has some real shitty games but its the number 1 selling console of all time. I challenge anyone to head over to craigs list and tell me how many PSP’s aren’t being sold as Modded or someone offering to MOD ur PSP. some of those people are offering over a hundred games for ur Modded PSP for like $50. guess what the Wii has Mods but its mainly girls who own it, they are not gonna hack it or the DS. like that guy even said in his own statement yeah microsoft will brick there 360 and they will just buy another one, he doesn’t even know he contradicted himself. and only Shooters sell good on 360 by the way. People just have flapping mouths
“The PS3 is first and foremost a games console and our marketing materials for the console reflect this”
I guess they have to change their commercial lines from “It only does everything” to “It only does some things, because others are disabled by the order of our bobble-head engineers”
hey blame the idiot who went and hacked the PS3! I think we should kill him…with penguins.
hello …
wow flame wars everywhere, LOL!
i hate to lose a feature, whether it be a lame or wonderful one. i tried the OtherOS once & didn’t like the limitations, yet those doing clusters, distributed computing & development on cell architecture had a real & cheap alternative. but weird they are the ones not mourning or grieving over this, why!? because if they use the PS3 for Linux, they don’t for games (like the US military!) … so they just didn’t update since long ago & i’m sure their machines never see the XMB.
so for the casual user, go get yourself if you don’t have one. i hate lose a feature but i hate piracy more, so can live without OtherOS.
as for BC, i don’t feel like SONY can & will remove it. the PS2 being already hacked, it’s a no big deal if some try & succeed doing so on the PS3, yet the fat PS3 with software BC can someday be patched to remove it, i just don’t know about those with E-Motion engine (like i do!) .. it’s not just a software, but also a hardware issue. but i’m sure SONY won’t remove it, maybe they’ll even add it (software emulation) to the newer consoles.
i wrote a very long blog (as usual) about that update that took me over a day for backup-format-restore-update, i hope it’s worth it. since the 3.21 FW update my PS3 been behaving quite eratically, just hope the next one fixes everything …
if someday SONY adds OtherOS functionnality, please do allow installation on external hard-disk without messing anything on the system.
cheers!
linux was a waste to begin with, glad they got rid of it.
Sony shouldn’t have put Linux in the first place if they were going to remove it, in my perspective, I think that it’s the guy whom claimed who could hack the PS3 using another OS and some hardware, it’s ALL HIS FAULT!
@victorinox
Err PSP games sucks ? GET FUCK OUTTA HERE, yea some suck and some very good games, Popular games like MGS, GOW. Killzone and more that has massvie piracy, I did not say anything about low Sale that hurt the PSP. you fuckingstupid breed matherfacker
PS3vsXBOX360? I’ve got the chill pill, now take the chill pill. Put the chill pill in your mouth. Now swallow the chill pill. There are some people who don’t have the same opinions as us and yes you might think their stupid (what the whole does the word breed have to with their intelligence while we’re on that subject?)
I think their saying the sales was a considerable larger factor in what caused the PSP to go downhill, though victorinox it’s not like the PSP is done for. People still make games for it otherwise Sony would never have invested their money in the PSPGo.
But seriously PS3vsXBOX360 there’s no need to get that defensive over a handheld, is sony going to think you with a big ribbon that says “PSP DEFENDER” while they give out awards? No. Is it going to make the PSP sales go up from when so many people read that statement and think “You know what? He’s right the PSP was awesome and this moron victorinox can suck it!” No they’ll most likely repley with some comment on how your just a fanboy.
So why?
@Timewarp
yea i agreed with you there
Truth is I never own a PSP, i would like to get one at some point
Hey thanks for chill pill. Its works
you know whats worse about the ppl complaining that the feature is removed….the ppl complaining about the ppl complaining… most of you need to stfu and give it a rest…complaining about a complainer is just as annoying… get it?! got it!
There is no mystery why Sony dropped OtherOS support for the Slim — it costs money to continue to support the hypervisor, the software that sits between the PS3 and the OtherOS Operating System, and the Slim was a big enough change to the hardware that it would have required more work, and thus money, to write the drivers for the new hardware.
I would rather have a $299 Slim without OtherOS support than a $349 Slim WITH OtherOS support, and I think a lot of other people would agree.
And I’m by no means a Linux hater, I’m a Linux systems engineer. Linux is a neat toy on the PS3 for gamers, and a great development platform for people doing Cell and PowerPC dev on Linux, but if you really want a Linux box there is a lot of other hardware for it that will give you a better user experience than the PS3′s OtherOS would.
With the PS3, you only get 256MB of RAM. You can’t touch most of the video card. Without special code, you’re only running on the PPE, the main processor of the PS3, and not the SPE’s that make the PS3 so powerful. So for most people, there are a lot of limits that make it less useful than… say an actual PC running Linux.