Infact those complaining "Oh but my ps3 was my computer too, I cant afford a laptop/desktop" What are you doing with a $600 Device? Nowadays you can pick up a decent laptop for $479
People might have bought PS3 because, hell, you get computer + game console with $600 when you can have just a computer for $500. They might have only payed extra $100 to get console functionality or they might have thought "green" and reduce amount of e-waste by sticking to one product instead of two.
However if they primarily wanted a computer (with the nice plus of being able to play console games) instead of a console (with the nice plus of using it as a computer) then the firmware update did not rip them off the extra $100 but the price of a computer ($500). Sure, you can buy a laptop after your console became incompatible with Linux. The problem is, if the customer originally thought "why pay 500 for computer if you can get both a computer and a game console for 600" he/she ended up having to buy both for $1100. Assumption that "if a person has money to buy $600 console, he/she has money to buy a $500 computer" is faulty, unless of course Sony is willing to REFUND the PS3 for it's full price!
The argument that anyone who had the money to buy $600 PS3 had also the many to buy a laptop is technically correct but only technically. But the point is, Sony led these people to believe PS3 will be able to be used as a computer replacemet (i.e running Linux) for it's whole service life - yet, this promised feature (which may be up to $500 worth in cash!) was ripped out of the product unannounced during a firmware update. I don't really even CARE if Sony can benefit from this trick.
Benefits Sony Could Get From Removal:
- Both Slim & Fat models are now on an equal field, meaning people wont be buying used models of the original line-up, thus boosting sales of the currently available Slimlines. (when a unit is sold used in any store *gamestop* as an example the company makes 0 profit)
- Bringing back the console to what it was originally meant for, basically now we only have the options to play games on it, its a giant psp we cant carry in our pockets thus boosting game sales.
- It saves the company future legal trouble
1) Benefit is no justification. Murder-for-hire has a benefit for an assissin; stealing your TV, kitchen utensils and grandma's teeth prosthesis is benefit for a burglar; ripping promised features from an already sold and paid product may (or may not) benefit Sony... the point is, it's still a violation to what was promised at the time of selling it. What is for benefit of Sony is not for benefit of customer and firmware updates should keep within the bounds of what Sony promised the product to be initially. If they'd removed a feature that was never even advertized, I wouldn't be so eager to criticize them.
2) Making PS3 console-only may increase game sales and be good for Sony. I still find it fishy that first they sell the product as multi-purpose maximizing console sales, then turn the product into gaming-only maximizing game sales. It's very fishy. They not only rob the money from the customer once but try to do it twice.
3) Game-only nature of crippled PS3 may be of (short-term) benefit in game sales (but probably long-term harm, when next generation console won't sell as well as PS3 did) but at the same time they are forcing people to buy a separate computer for other entertainment and productive needs. This is an environmental burden as well as costing the customer.
Then again console manufacturers are intentionally breaking compatibility by preventing old games from working on a new console (the other way around is obvious as new games would be too heavy for older console). They care SHIT about environment and inconvenience it causes to have to connect various game consoles to TV, swap out cables, etc.
4) I don't understand the "avoid legal trouble". If PS3 was to become a console that runs pirated games and movies over Linux, what problem would that cause to Sony? Does piracy cause legal trouble to motherboard manufacturers? Hard drive manufacturers? Pre-assembled (OEM) PC manufacturers? No. Piracy is not at the responsibility of who supplies the hardware to make illegal actions possible. Heck, even software manufacturers (like torrent applications) aren't responsible for it. How on earth would Sony be responsible with something done on PS3, using software not made by Sony?
To those who kept their calm during this fire, I thank you. for those of you who go on capslock rampages and Bleeping... Seriously think that will help? When your kind about something & calm, you recieve kindness back, like at a store if you run into a problem and dont explode the worker will most likely go out of their way to help you right? But if you yell at them do you think they will listen or even care? So stop the complaining. We all know what happened. All its doing is cluttering up the forums. I'm not saying they didnt "steal" from us as it was an advertised feature to begin with.
ALLCAPS RAEG is not the most efficient way of getting the support for Linux back, or getting your money wasted on a shitty product back. Being too nice isn't an option either. The best way is not speak in a clear fashion without hiding disappointment, and making everyone aware everywhere that you are disappointed with PS3. It's the negative publicity that they want to avoid. If you're nice and shut up, the chances are the customers service isn't going to care.
"Stop complaining" is the worst thing to do right now. You should complain, but not with ALLCAPS. If everyone did what you suggest: accept it as "theft" but not complain about it, what's going to get changed? Really? Ok. If you are an American, you can join a class action lawsuit against Sony. There's one already ongoing. You might get a few buck as compensation, and the law firm will get a couple dozen million dollars... but that's America. And it's still better do class-action against Sony than all the ambulance chasing they so much enjoy...
Like Natheria already said
tl;dr, i hate Sony, The end.
Same applies to me. Sony is evil and it seems their hardware division are made of same nazies as Sony BMG music publishing (with their DRM virus).
The firmware hackers disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing, artificial software limitations. Let the console manufacturers tremble at hardware liberation movement. The hackers have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.
Hackerier aller Länder, vereinigt euch!
* cue Soviet National Anthem *
Long live open source, third party, and firmware customizations.
