Air Force Might Be Troubled by PS3 "Other OS" Removal

[John Funk]

Air Force Might Be Troubled by PS3 "Other OS" Removal

Sony may have ticked off gamers by removing the "Other OS" option from the PS3 [http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-3-Games/b/ref=amb_link_6314822_1?ie=UTF8&node=14210751&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=top-2&pf_rd_r=01AJ97G9ZWG617S2JMW9&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_p=1263714662&pf_rd_i=ps3], but it may have also inadvertently picked a fight with a significantly bigger fish: The United States Air Force.

When Sony class-action lawsuit [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99499-Sony-Removes-Other-OS-Option-for-PS3].

But uproar aside, those were still complaints from gamers - and as solve a mystery regarding black holes in 2008 [http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/05/how-removing-ps3-linux-hurts-the-air-force.ars], but the console is also used by a significantly more major player: The US Air Force.

In 2009, the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, New York bought 336 PS3 systems to build a 53 teraFLOP processing cluster as a proof of concept. Once they'd seen for themselves how the consoles worked, the USAF scaled the project up enormously, buying 1,700 additional 160GB PS3s from a company called Fixstars for a not-insignificant $663,000.

Though that sounds expensive, off-the-shelf PS3s are actually one of the most cost-effective ways to get powerful processors for research projects. And yet, only months after the Air Force spent days setting its PS3 cluster up and installing all of the necessary software, Sony up and removed the option from further consoles.

While this won't have any effect on the 2,000+ current PS3s in the cluster (they're not hooked up to PSN, after all), it will make replacing them rather difficult. A spokesperson for the laboratory told Ars that the Air Force was disappointed with Sony's action.

"We will have to continue to use the systems we already have in hand," said the lab representative, "... 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 used to have it."

Sony might not listen to gamers, but will they listen to the USAF?

(Ars Technica [http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/05/how-removing-ps3-linux-hurts-the-air-force.ars])

Permalink

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

I'll bet that Sony will make an acception with the USAF and make sure the the ones that went to the USAF stay out of the no other OS zone.
However if Sony couldn't do that I could also see them just making a specific type of PS3 for the USAF to keep that nice (and I'm sure very lucrative) deal with the USAF.

 

[Jared]

Ohhh! They picked a fight with the wrong people! Well, can see next action

"Sony HQ, Carpet-Bombed!"

Maybe they will listen to them more than us...

 

[DeadAccountMoveAlong]

However if Sony couldn't do that I could also see them just making a specific type of PS3 for the USAF to keep that nice (and I'm sure very lucrative) deal with the USAF.

I remember hearing somewhere that Sony is actually losing money by having the USAF buy all the consoles. Probably because they aren't buying any games, peripherals, nothing else to increase profit for Sony.

No games. No OS choices. Soon enough they'll replace the blu-ray player with a VCR.

 

[mjc0961]

Hmm, interesting. I bet such users of the PS3 could slap Sony with a much harder hitting lawsuit than gamers can. Sony is basically bricking PS3s to those customers by removing the feature in refurbished replacement consoles.

It'll be interesting to see what happens, at least. I still think Sony was very wrong to release this firmware update in the first place, as it never had the potential to stop piracy or hacking in the first place because all hackers needed to do was NOT update and they get to keep working. And this proved true about a week after their update when the hacker they were trying to stop in the first place made himself custom firmware that still had the Other OS option. So from where I'm sitting, Sony still has egg on their face no matter what happens with any lawsuits or customer backlash.

 

[Simalacrum]

Hooooooly crap.

Looks like Sony should have done their research before pulling the plug... I do believe the world's most powerful airforce is a little more of a "security risk" than a few hackers...

 

[Danpascooch]

Ohhh! They picked a fight with the wrong people! Well, can see next action

"Sony HQ, Carpet-Bombed!"

Maybe they will listen to them more than us...

God I hope that happens.

How funny would it be if they just rolled in the jets and absolutely flattened Sony HQ.

I wish the world worked that way.

 

[Danpascooch]

Lol, considering how popular the PS3 is, I bet about 90% of purchases are for these supercomputer users, better not piss them off.

EDIT: Wait, this means that removing the other OS was an ever BETTER thing for Sony, think about it, they lose money on every PS3 sold, and make it up on games.

These server users buy the systems, but get no games.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

Somebody has some splaining to do.

 

[Danpascooch]

Wow, this means that removing the OS will actually hurt PS3 sales, interesting.

EDIT: Wait, this means that removing the other OS was an ever BETTER thing for Sony, think about it, they lose money on every PS3 sold, and make it up on games.

These server users buy the systems, but get no games.

 

[Shadow XXVII]

The amount of research that can be done with the PS3's processor is pretty impressive.

 

[Aztek463]

This certainly is an interesting turn of events. I suppose a "whoops we screwed up" won't suffice this time around?

 

[HotFezz8]

Ohhh! They picked a fight with the wrong people! Well, can see next action

"Sony HQ, Carpet-Bombed!"

Maybe they will listen to them more than us...

LOL LOL LOL

oh please!! just one little Tomahawk!!

LOL *wipe eyes and continue typing whilst giggling*

it will be very interesting to see how a massive american games and software company will react to the US defence stepping on it (if they make a big deal out of it)

 

[Cryo84R]

Whoops!

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

However if Sony couldn't do that I could also see them just making a specific type of PS3 for the USAF to keep that nice (and I'm sure very lucrative) deal with the USAF.

I remember hearing somewhere that Sony is actually losing money by having the USAF buy all the consoles. Probably because they aren't buying any games, peripherals, nothing else to increase profit for Sony.

No games. No OS choices. Soon enough they'll replace the blu-ray player with a VCR.

And that was probably when PS3s weren't being built for such a decreased amount as they are now.
Even if Sony is loosing money by having the USAF buying their systems do you know how awesome of PR this is?
Seriously if the USAF went to the press with some new development and said "Yeah the tons of PS3s we used helped us out with this, and saved you tax dollars" Sony would be thrilled, and I'll bet you PS3 sales would go up, even if it was just marginally.

 

[2fish]

USAF declares Sony an enemy of the state We know that the Sony Corporation has OS's of PS3 class weapons grade gaming machines. I am sure the military can find a way to get what they want, after all if the military asks for things it is a courtesy, they are built take things. Sony I suggest you surrender before you get put on the terror watch list.

-2fish

 

[jayc4life]

Unless they have a backup of the pre-removal OS that they can specially deploy to the US Air Force, Sony's going to take a real pasting now. Whatever about our regular Joes and our games, something of this magnitude really can't have a blind eye turned towards it.

 

[Ca9ine]

Wow, talk about not doing their research.
Though, USAF isn't connected to PSN. The replacement of faulty systems like the articles says will become a major *****

 

[dalek sec]

I'll bet that Sony will make an acception with the USAF and make sure the the ones that went to the USAF stay out of the no other OS zone.
However if Sony couldn't do that I could also see them just making a specific type of PS3 for the USAF to keep that nice (and I'm sure very lucrative) deal with the USAF.

Ah hell, Carter and McKay can fix this on their own Frank. Rush and Eli would help out as well but they're stuck on Destiny at the moment.

Jokes aside is it really wise to mess around with the Air Force like this? And lastly could someone please tell me what this bloody "Other OS" thing is?