Sony says sorry for Other OS take-down

[wraggster]

Sony has apologised for the row surrounding the removal of the Install Other OS function from older PlayStation 3 consoles.

We asked Sony UK to respond to reports that at least one user had received a partial refund from Amazon UK in compensation for the fact that part of the device's advertised functionality had been removed.

A Sony spokesman told us:

We are sorry if users of Linux or other operating systems are disappointed by our decision to issue a firmware upgrade which when installed disables this operating system feature. We have made the decision to protect the integrity of the console and whilst mindful of the impact on Linux or other operating system users we nevertheless felt it would be in the best interests of the majority of users to pursue this course of action.

As you will be aware we have upgraded and enhanced functionality and features of the console by numerous firmware upgrades over time and this is a very rare instance where a feature will be disabled. Further enhancements are in the pipeline.

Users do have the choice whether to install the firmware upgrade and this is clearly explained to them at the time the firmware upgrade is made available for installation. Furthermore our terms and conditions clearly state that we have the right to revise the PS3's settings and features in order to prevent access to unauthorised or pirated content.

Whilst we fully understand why Sony has decided to remove this function from the PS3 OS, and that users are free not to install the firmware upgrade, we also understand that not installing the latest firmware will prevent users from accessing a number of online services including the Playstation Network.

We're also not quite clear how Sony's EULA can be used to contravene European Directive 1999/44/EC which quite clearly states that goods must be be "fit for the purpose which the consumer requires them and which was made known to the seller at the time of purchase".

We're pretty sure the proportion of users who bought a PS3 for its ability to run Linux is tiny compared to the many millions in circulation, but they are a vocal minority to say the least.

Our readers are asking us why Sony can, despite EU law, remove an advertised and documented part of the system to protect its own interests.

We'd also like to know whether Sony will be reimbursing Amazon and other retailers for any further refunds they are forced to offer under the law.

We've put these questions to Sony UK and await a response.

We have also spoken to the Office of Fair Trading and Consumer Direct who tell us they cannot comment until an official complaint has been made.

http://www.thinq.co.uk/news/2010/4/9/sony-says-sorry-for-other-os-take-down/

[wisinx]

i THINK someone must submit a complain, or a sue to Sony then in an official page ask for signs, and this way all the complains and people that are affected with this problem WILL BE HEARD!!!!

[BlueCrab]

Sony has done nothing but ignore the customers. The only reason they responded to thinq.co.uk as they did in this article is because they are "journalists".

Sony cares nothing for their consumers, and actually laughs at them and hangs up on them when they call about the fact that Other OS was removed. They ignore their posts on the blog, and they ignore their posts on their support forums. They don't return emails asking for support on this issue (and when they do, its the same canned response that basically just says that this was done for security concerns).

Sony doesn't give a rat's ass about what their consumers think, and they don't care that they're breaking the law. The only thing that will make them care is a slew of lawsuits that they'll be forced to defend. Even that might not convince them to fix the problem they've created -- Just look at what companies have done in the past, such as Ford with the Pinto debacle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto#Safety_problems_and_scandal) back in the 1970s. Companies only care about their bottom line.

[wilcofalco]

sony can stick there apology where the sun dont shine this must now be fully hacked like xbox 360

[Spyzius]

I want full refund for 60-giger. SONY give me my money BACK

[symbal]

Imagine Sony just entered straight in the console game with the Ps3, without people's memories of Ps1&2 how long you think they'd last with this arrogance and under performing? It's only the fact they were successfull that keeps people coming back and defending them, i'm not saying they have to listen to their customers but at least stop pissing away the huge potential of it's hardware.

[jamotto]

Apology accepted Sony, and we the consumer's are sorry that hackers have ruined a good thing and forced you to eliminate this feature.

[Cloudhunter]

Apology accepted Sony, and we the consumer's are sorry that hackers have ruined a good thing and forced you to eliminate this feature.

This attitude that it is the hackers fault really pisses me off. Sony could have fixed it - their bug was in SOFTWARE - but instead they cited "Security Concerns" to protect their users.

The whole protecting users thing is 100% bullshit. At the present moment you can't just accidentally get access to higher privlages in your PS3 and brick your console. It requires hardware to do anything like that.

Sony are just lazy and can't be bothered to do a bit of work.

If an ISO loader had come out - maybe I could have understand. But at the current stage this was HARMLESS.

[Herbster]

Well I don't know what to do. I have ubuntu on my ps3 and it is great for youtube and google docs on my 32" in the living room. But I'm on psn a fair bit too.

The update says I will lose access to the partition with the other os on it unless I re-format my hard drive. So now may be the time to upgrade the 80 gig drive.

I believe I can use a proxy server to report a different version of my console and then still use psn. Anyone tried this?

I remember also, and I've seen this mentioned on a few forums now, Sony used the pc capabilities of the ps3 to get around import taxes in some countries. Would they have to pay that now?

[BlueCrab]

I believe I can use a proxy server to report a different version of my console and then still use psn. Anyone tried this?Technically, its not reporting your console as having a different version, its reporting PSN as requiring a different version. There are two ways of doing this, a proxy running on your PC, or a DNS server to redirect the request for the file containing the firmware version required by PSN. I can't speak for the first method (proxy) except to say that theoretically it would work (and many people have reported success elsewhere for a long while with this), but I can say that the DNS server works just fine. Setting up a DNS server is probably more difficult than doing a proxy though, unless you have the set up for it already (or you utilize someone else's public DNS that is set up for it).

[Herbster]

Thanks BlueCrab, I'll give the proxy method a go then.

[NeoTechni]

This attitude that it is the hackers fault really pisses me off. Sony could have fixed it - their bug was in SOFTWARE - but instead they cited "Security Concerns" to protect their users.

The whole protecting users thing is 100% bullshit. At the present moment you can't just accidentally get access to higher privlages in your PS3 and brick your console. It requires hardware to do anything like that.

Sony are just lazy and can't be bothered to do a bit of work.

If an ISO loader had come out - maybe I could have understand. But at the current stage this was HARMLESS.

Agreed

[Anger]

this is not a rant - i have only one thing to say. if honda or lexus or any other car maker out there were to release a car then 6 months down the line realize the wheels are out of balance and the only way to fix it would be to remove a wheel do you really think people would go with this?:rofl: its a complete and utter joke - there trying to protect their investment at the cost of everything - including the law. i hope to hell a class action is filed in the eu and forces sony to reinstate it. i understand why their doing it but its yet another bad move from sony. how on earth their still making money and getting away with illegalities like this is beyond me.

[jamotto]

This attitude that it is the hackers fault really pisses me off. Sony could have fixed it - their bug was in SOFTWARE - but instead they cited "Security Concerns" to protect their users.

The whole protecting users thing is 100% bullshit. At the present moment you can't just accidentally get access to higher privlages in your PS3 and brick your console. It requires hardware to do anything like that.

Sony are just lazy and can't be bothered to do a bit of work.

If an ISO loader had come out - maybe I could have understand. But at the current stage this was HARMLESS.

That is the thing it can't be fixed, they can make it more difficult to implement, if they went that route they would have another PSP on their hands wasting resources and time rolling out firmware and hardware updates trying to keep ahead of the hackers.

Or they could cut their losses now and remove the feature that nearly all the hacks are going to exploit.

Yes, no ISO loaders yet but if geohot has access to everything he claims to then it was only a matter of time before one appeared after all the firmware was reversed engineered.