The next system software update for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) system will be released on April 1, 2010 (JST), and will disable the “Install Other OS” feature that was available on the PS3 systems prior to the current slimmer models, launched in September 2009. This feature enabled users to install an operating system, but due to security concerns, Sony Computer Entertainment will remove the functionality through the 3.21 system software update.
In addition, disabling the “Other OS” feature will help ensure that PS3 owners will continue to have access to the broad range of gaming and entertainment content from SCE and its content partners on a more secure system.
Consumers and organizations that currently use the “Other OS” feature can choose not to upgrade their PS3 systems, although the following features will no longer be available;
- Ability to sign in to PlayStation Network and use network features that require signing in to PlayStation Network, such as online features of PS3 games and chat
- Playback of PS3 software titles or Blu-ray Disc videos that require PS3 system software version 3.21 or later
- Playback of copyright-protected videos that are stored on a media server (when DTCP-IP is enabled under Settings)
- Use of new features and improvements that are available on PS3 system software 3.21 or later
For those PS3 users who are currently using the “Other OS” feature but choose to install the system software update, to avoid data loss they first need to back-up any data stored within the hard drive partition used by the “Other OS,” as they will not be able to access that data following the update.
Additional information about PS3 firmware updates, including v3.21 (once it becomes available), can be found here:
http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3/index.htm
PS3 owners who have further questions should contact Consumer Services:
http://us.playstation.com/support/ask/
800-345-7669 (800-345-SONY)
SenileAssassin, they are well within their rights. You are not required to upgrade, and if you do not they can simply deny you access to psn, which again is well within their rights.
Sue all you want, you are wasting your time.
@382: It’s either a joke, or serious legal blunder. You can’t legally take away functionality that was being advertised at the time of purchase.
Superstrokey-This will affect the casual users of the “Other OS” feature, as you are not one of them, I believe you should open your mind up a little bit. The users that use it for supercomputers or whatever probably won’t mind as they are probably not waiting on the next game. However, people who use this feature and wish to play new games have every right to be angry about this.
This is a horrible update. One of the reasons I bought my PS3 was because I could use it as a computer. In fact, it was the ONLY reason that I bought a PS3 over an Xbox 360 this gen.
I’m not very pleased at all.
Im shocked at the amount of lies people are typing now as well. You would think EVERYONE here uses the OS feature when in reality ill be most of them didnt even know it existed till the “hack” gained some momentum which is thankfully ended now.
Its pretty funny seeing how easily people rage.
ARRGGRGGGGGG RAGE
@386: Incorrect. It was being advertised as capable of doing specific things. If at any point in time it becomes incapable of doing those things, whether intentionally or non-intentionally – it’s a lemon. Typical bait-and-switch, for starters. And it is illegal.
This is garbage! The ability to install Linux was a feature that played a major role in my decision to purchase this system! I paid for this feature, and I, and everyone, should get to keep this. Sony is just perpetually nerfing this system. What’s next? Remove backwards compatibility from the systems that came with it? I am going to avoid this system up date as long as possible. Linux on PS3 is a great feature and should be kept on the systems that came with it! I don’t think I’ve ever been more upset with Sony.
This is BS. I’m a longtime Sony supporter, and I was proud of the feature list of the PS3 for many reasons including “Other-OS”. Its the reason why I spent $600 day one for my PS3. My first real introduction to linux was on PS3. I love having that option. This firmware isn’t making anything “safer” for the end user. It is a poor attempt by Sony to limit hacker-access to the system. I bought my hardware. I buy my games. I want to use them as agreed upon at the time of purchase. Is this even legal? Those of you with slim models and such which don’t have this feature really don’t have a valid point of view. You bought your system as-is. I AM PISSED.
@skippyx77 I agree but I’m loving the reactions of all those people who don’t have a life, can’t take an April Fool’s joke because they’ve been living under a rock all this time and have their clocks set to JST (read post again [DELETED]) whilst following the North American Playstation Blog and presumably living in North America. Still knocking wood on this one. *sigh*
@ Raacky,
Sure i suppose there is a small group of people that use it for both for some bizarre reason. My mind is plenty open to this fact, the fact of the matter is that this feature is used by a super small minority of people, and we are talking really small. People are sour not cause the feature was taken away, rather that they wont be able to use the hack, should it ever arrive in a useable form.
This simply isnt the big deal that people are making it out to be, a minor inconvenience for an extremely small amount of gamers but on the whole? Not even going to affect sales.
Sony, when are you going to release the 3D Firmware update? I hope a good update comes out soon!
After buying a PS1, a PS2, a PS3, a PSP, several Minidisc recorders, and many other Sony products, even when I thought some of Sony’s decisions were horrible, based on this decision, the PS3 will be my last Sony purchase. I don’t buy things only to have the manufacturer tell me later that they’re going to take away features that attracted me in the first place. And yes, I do use the Other OS feature. In fact, I just updated to the latest version of PS3Ubuntu this month.
Goodbye Sony.
No Senile its not a Bait and Switch… at all.
You can still use the feature, they can just deny you PSN use, again well within their rights. If you read teh EULA, they are 100% within their rights. Im not saying its not unforturnate but really, its not a big deal.
On a side note i find it bizarre they they wouldnt add the update with at least something to off set this, thats just lazyness.
Sony. [DELETED] you. Seriously. [DELETED] you. Don’t do it. Do not remove “Other OS” feature. Probably only reason for me to buy PS3 was to ability to use that box for something other than gaming in the first place. It has provided to be nice cheap box for studying Cell programming and I am not going to give up on playing online and programming.
hahaha stupid pathetic fools just like the psp right now this system will get hacked even further and we will be able to keep the linux feature and all the other features without upgrading and I know this is deff possible because this was done on psp already for playing online with an exploit to get back and running on the psn for multiplayer, my middle finger and ass goes to you Sony all the worst if this is true and yes I know ps3 and psp are different systems but lets face it both are made by humans even the security which means it’s not perfect and will get cracked and even if they removed the other os feature !
I don´t think that this is an smart idea, but i stand at Sony side. If this is a War against piracy, “There are always casualties in war, gentlemen — otherwise it wouldn’t be war”
I´m sure this will give developers more security when they choose to what platform they will develop and this helps no other then us PS3 owners, as developers can be sure that their software won´t be pirated.
> On Fri, 2009-08-21 at 09:58 -0700, geoffrey.levand at am.sony.com wrote:
The feature of “Install Other OS” was removed from the new
“Slim” PS3 model to focus on delivering games and other
entertainment content.
Please be assured that SCE is committed to continue
the support for previously sold models that have the
“Install Other OS” feature and that this feature will
not be disabled in future firmware releases.
thats deep
To those that think OtherOS is a useless feature, you’d be SO wrong on the assumption. Some of us use it as:
– a multi-media center which supports more formats than what the GAME OS supports
– a web browser at our choosing which is better than the lame
GAME OS’s browser (it doesn’t even support the PS Forum anymore)
– an arcade machine (look up thezerogame project)
– an alternative computer should they not have a main computer or just to use as an extra when they don’t feel like using their main computer
I’m a Linux newbie so i’m sure there’s much more that can be done with it but these are what I use it for a lot. This is one of the main reasons I decided to search for a “Phat” PS3 besides BC!
I’m not saying down with Sony, I’m just reiterating the fact that people who do use this feature, have every right to complain. Like I said on a previous post, probably about 3% of the population actually use it. Sony will probably not feel any repercussions from disabling it as a whole. However, should hear the feedback from customers. Also, I don’t believe that everyone who used it was waiting for a hack, I’m sure there are ALOT of things you can use Linux on a PS3 for. That’s all.
Disabling the ability to install a different operating system? Wow no way. Whats next? Disabling the ability to use non-sony sponsored ps3 hard disks?
What security concerns are there with being able to install LINUX as an operating system on the device? Arn’t parts of the underlying O/S also written in Linux?
Are the security concerns theoretical? If they are then leave us the freedom of using our ps3’s for whatever we, the customer and owner of our own ps3’s, to do with them as we wish.
I could care less about the feature being taken away, but come on, this isn’t really an update but a downgrade.
ohh and just for the record I use the other os feature legitimately. I love playing classic snes and sega genesis on my big screen but ohh no were Sony, anyways if this happens w/e blu ray isn’t that big yet and I might as well sell it and probably for more since now people will probably upgrade and make my system worth more then probably move to the dark side or better yet my laptop or pc for gaming…
@412 You’re right. Feel better now?
april fools i assume … it’s just got to be.. but if its true i understand sony
Okay… let me say how crappy of a move this is! I bought my PS3 for this reason, I LOVED the fact you guys were so open to the Linux on your system….
Needless to say I will not update my ps3, and along with the fact that I had problems accessing any games back in Feb with the whole Apoclps3 (or whatever)
This is a very bad move sony…
Oh well, Go Xbox now, thanks for everything,
PS3, It only does…. well frustration, aggravation…… ect
Wow, considering PS3 is the worlds crappiest Linux box EVER!
Specs of a PS3 other then the cell processor.
Average vid card
512 mb of RAM
XXXgb Hard Drive space
But if you want someone to blame, then blame Geohot. He is the only reason sony is disabling the OtherOS feature. Its not a useless feature, but one bad apple spoils the bunch.
Take it away sony i dont care at all personally, i only hope there is more into this update, that is all. keep up the good work guys
when the heck are they gonna do somthing about the friggin PS3 locking up when you use the internet browser? i mean it dont happen everytime but i would say 7 out of 10 times it locks up and i have to pretty much unplug the system to reset it. Some more theme options would be nice. maybe make it so we can change the font color to work with brite backgrounds and some more Music visualazations.
If this isn’t an April Fools joke, I demand a refund on false advertising. You advertised this feature before launch and it is a feature I wanted and use.
and for the record… how is this a April Fools Joke? Seriously I doubt “We are disabling Install Other OS” as a April fools Joke, perhaps if they said PS3 getting a update to support 4D!!!
Also their Vice President (I believe I could be wrong) assured us this feature would not go away… guess I was wrong, so was he! lol
It’s an April Fools joke.
If not GameStop will be getting a lot of PS3 trade-ins. lol jk
@Superstrokey1123 Once again: you buy a console that claims to be capable of 1) running Other OS, 2) connecting to PSN.
Now you can only have either of them, but not both. It IS bait and switch. And again – it is illegal. And you can bet if it is not an April 1st joke – there will be a class action suit. And if there is – it will most likely end with a settlement.
@KSPRAYDAD
KSPRAYDAD | March 28th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
Wow…this is completely unacceptable. If there is any way to join a class action you can be sure I’ll be in on it.
Only difference between you and that guy was this. You’re trying to threaten Sony just because you can’t take a joke or live without that feature. I call this rage. Sony will own you if you even so much as to try and sue them.
i see a lot of ignorants here, even if you don’t use the feature is simple to see the lots of advantage from using several cores, even with less ram than a normal PC.
sometimes is better to keep your mouth shout if you don’t have idea.
I can no longer trust SONY products’ feature lists. I never use linux (though it is installed), but that’s not the point. Are you going to remove smile mode from my wife’s cybershot next? How about bluetooth from my VAIO? I can no longer buy nor recommend SONY products. Fix your security problems without removing advertised features.
This has to be an April Fool’s joke. More than 4 months to make this update? Yeah ok…
And, Eric Lempel has always made the firmware update announcements, and this time, we get some other guy telling us stuff that doesn’t seem logical whatsoever. If it’s not an April Fool’s Joke, then I guess I’ll have to deal with it and keep using my xbox 3FixMe until Sony allows party chat during any mode. Unfrickinbelievable.
I will be first in line to talk to a lawyer if they try to do this, Im so sick of companies treating everyone like they are criminals! Its so Fricking aggravating!
please let this be an April fools joke please Sony don’t downgrade the ps3 many people put there money out there to support the playstation in the beginning and your choosing to punish those who supported you and bought the playstation first :(
why do they call it “Update” if they are removing a feature and not adding anything useful. Better call it “PS3 Firmware(v3.13) Downdate”. :p
ohh, and to all of you saying you use linux on the PS3 legitimately only playing classic snes and genesis roms etc….
That is not legitimate you know right? 99.9% chance you are obtaining those roms illegally…………………..
I’m still pissed however. I use the PS3 linux for coding, encryption, conversion, etc
Well the only OS you could install is Linux, and seeing as how I despise Linux, not a big loss really.
@426…
Again..you are so right. My apologize for ever doubting that you know all.
LMaO this is definitely a April Fools joke.
We don’t live in Japan so they would of never said “JPT” (Japan Standard Time).
Also, if they really meant it was going to be done in Japan first then they would posted the time that it will be updated over there since it’s a different time over here.
Nice try Sony amigos. lol.
JST******** My previous comment.
Not installing it, what next sony?
You gonna make swapping the HDD against the rules?
Great… not only will we lose “Install Other OS”, but we can’t have BRAVIA Sync. Awesome. Just awesome.
@429…
If you click on Mr. Seybold’s name at the top of this entry you’ll see he is indeed involved in discussions on the blog about firmware…generally when something has gone wrong.
What? You are removing a pre-existing feature from my system?
What a joke!