In fact they allege it’s a total ”fabrication” on Sony’s part, and that Other OS was taken out via firmware to save money instead. It’s ”impossible” to run pirated titles.
The feature let PS3 owners install other operating systems like Linux onto their console, but Sony revoked that capability through a firmware update and cited ‘security reasons’ for doing so. However one group adamantly claim it was motivated by cost, not security.
”In reality, SCEI and SCEA removed this feature because it was expensive to maintain (as they previously admitted when the feature was removed from the slim models - but which they conveniently removed from SCEA’s website),” reads the class action suit.
Piracy is not much of an option through Other OS they said.
”When the ‘Other OS’ feature is enabled, the software prevents the proper operation of the gaming feature to avoid allowing the features to interplay,” it continued.
”In order for a hacker to pirate a game, it is necessary to perfectly emulate the operating system for which the game is designed, including the API, which is the interface for the game OS that supports all of the features of a game.”
”However, when the Other OS is in use, the API and other hardware features are blocked, including the graphics chip in the PS3, which makes it impossible to run a pirated game on the Other OS. As of January 2011, Sony had yet to identify a single instance in which someone used the Other OS to pirate protected content.”
All but one of the claims filed against Sony have been dismissed. The judge allowed the ‘Computer Fraud and Abuse Act’ claim to proceed because Sony couldn’t show that the firmware removal of the Other OS feature was authorised.
Do you pine for Other OS?
