The PS3 Slim comes with pretty much everything you have come to expect of a PS3 console. It has a Blu-Ray drive, Bluetooth wireless, USB Ports, and even a removable Hard Drive. Yet one feature was unable to survive the transition from the PS3 to the PS3 Slim.
Other OS support gave users the ability to partition their Hard Drives and install Linux on that secondary partition. When asked why this intriguing feature didn’t make the transition, Sarah Ewen of SCEE’s technology group had this to say:
“The reasons are simple: The PS3 Slim is a major cost reduction involving many changes to hardware components in the PS3 design. In order to offer the OtherOS install, SCE would need to continue to maintain the OtherOS hypervisor drivers for any significant hardware changes – this costs SCE.
One of our key objectives with the new model is to pass on cost savings to the consumer with a lower retail price. Unfortunately in this case the cost of OtherOS install did not fit with the wider objective to offer a lower cost PS3.”
While this was a cool feature, it was admittedly an underused one. And I, for one, am happy that Sony found ways to cut costs without taking hardware features that the majority of gamers actually find necessary.
