Sony has released a mandatory firmware update for the PS3 that removes the ability to install GNU/Linux on the system. What is the problem with that? Well, problem is that, this feature was available only with older models of PS3 (upto the ones with 80GB hard disk).
I bought my PS3 at a time when these old ones and the new 120GB models (without GNU/Linux installation option) were just becoming available. (Mind you, both models cost the same in India..). I specifically bought the older model for this feature. It's a damn good piece of sophisticated hardware, and i loved it till now. The games look and play awesome on it, so does the HD movies. And I know a bunch of others who did the same.
I am not qualified, but is it legal for a company to remove feature from a product that has already been sold to the customer with the particular option being touted as a feature? If anyone is qualified, can they take the fight to sony? In india? What if somebody told you someday that a software update will disable the ABS feature on your car since some users were using counterfeited parts with it?
The most outrageous aspect of this whole thing is that unless one installs this update (s)he won't be able to log onto the PSN for playing online games and other stuff. That means you have to upgrade if you want to play online.
What is the way out? No safe ones seem to be in range. One could wait for the promised firmware from GeoHot. But that won't be legal. Meaning you may(will?) not get support from Sony if your PS3 bricks. I did BUY the PS3 at full price .. didn't rent it. What goes next? BD playback? DVD upscaling? DLNA streaming playback ( Well... you can play your pirated MP3s with it )?
Personally I do not like to use pirated stuff. I started using GNU/Linux for this primary reason around 8/10 years ago. I have quite a collection of Movie DVD's and Audio CDs. However, this time I am tempted. Will I update? Not right now... I need more time to decide.
I have a lot of sony hardware lying around the house ranging from phones to TV's. Now, frankly, I have lost my trust in them. I didn't buy an iPod/Xbox 360 for this kind of vendor mentality.
What next? PC's that don't let you install other OS? (If you install any OS other than the pre-bundled one [ we can all guess what that would be ], you won't be able to see HD on you 15K HD graphics card). Where does it stop? I urge people who read this blog to speak up against this outrage on customer rights.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
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4 comments:
Can we take this to the consumer court??
Was the feature offered for a limited period of time/ under any clause ??
http://www.consumercourt.netfirms.com/
As part of my work a few month ago we were preparing DSL router firmware updates for an ISP. This new f/w was going to be installed on new units as well as pushed on existing units in field. The new units were supposed to have a particular feature disabled. We were specifically told that f/w upgrade MUST NOT disable the feature on existing units because the end user contract (probably EULA) specified so.
So you have to check if the EULA for PS3 specifies anything like that. Even if it does you need to check how legally binding the EULA is for Sony and can you base a case on terms specified in EULA.
By the way I stopped recommending Sony products to people long time ago. Not only because they are expensive but also they almost always use proprietary cables, storage cards etc. That was one of the reasons I choose Cowon over other manufacturers for buying my audio player.
Didn't know you had a PS3. Thought someone you know had it. ;-)
But anyway, I had read this a few days ago and Sony just joined the likes of Apple (hardware region encoded optical drives). The point is not the legality of disabling features on a sold unit. The point is about the idea of disabling features on _any_ unit in this fashion. This is similar to Tivoism, where the product was running free software but if you tried to run a modified version it won't run.
I don't understand how such things make economic sense. A huge chunk of the population won't buy a PS3 or Mac or original CD/DVD in India, and the minority who did will get turned off by these developments.
Rishi,
You can't play pirated games on PS3, atleast not until now. We pay around 2500 for each game. Suckers, are even selling low priced games (like GOW collection $40) at the same price here. Besides, Linux used to run on a system similar to a hypervisor. If you remember, it has a 9 core IBM cell CPU. Of these only one core is available to linux. It can't access all the other resources on the PS3, only some of them. Full GPU access was also not available. So, it's not that Sony gained a lot by disabling linux support. On the web, I read some pro-disable reactions, I doubt however, how many of them would have reacted the same, if Sony disabled the DLNA music/video playback.
It's not that we were planning to start playing pirated games on linux. I am more outraged by what these companies can do with stuff that i own...
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