QOTD: Should Sony be Sued for Removing Linux?

By Jane McEntegart
published

Over the last few weeks, there's been a lot of discussion surrounding Sony's decision to remove Linux support from the PS3. Those inclined to sue over the removal of Other OS support say they purchased their PS3 because they could install Linux on it.

Nielsen recently conducted a survey of 700 potential PS3 owners aged 7-54. The research firm asked these people why they were considering buying a PS3 and the top three reasons they received in response were the Blu-ray player, the recent price drop and the games available.

The table below shows the complete list of reasons offered by those in the market for a PS3. Because this survey was conducted after Other OS support was removed, this is not on the list. However, if Other OS support was available, it's likely it wouldn't feature high on the list of features people are looking for. That said, for those who did purchase a PS3 with it in mind, it's likely that it was an incredibly important feature for them.

Today's Question of the Day is: Should Sony be sued for the removal of Other OS support?

Jane McEntegart
81 Comments Comment from the forums
  • znegval
    They marketed it with a feature and after the product was sold they took it out. Doesn't really matter what the feature was, they shouldn't have done that. Not Sony, not any company should be allowed to do that.
    Reply
  • totally
    Reply
  • nforce4max
    My answer is yes, it was well known prior to the update that the PS3 supports Linux and was used on several occasions as a selling point. With the feature removed with numerous users, universities, and the military being impacted with this loss Sony should either reimburse in partial for the loss of the feature or restore it on existing models. Under EU law Sony could face some legal trouble in that region.
    Reply
  • twbg4cq
    Yes, and if we're going to sue Sony for removing Linux support, then let's get them to bring back backwards compatibility for PS1 and PS2 games while we're at it.
    That's one of the things holding me back from buying one.
    Reply
  • pinkeyes
    Yes
    Reply
  • Franklin Hennersdorfer
    Yes, they should, if only to set a precedent to stop others from doing this same kind of thing. Removing features from an already purchased product is tantamount to theft if you ask me, (and any EULA that tries to make this practice kosher should be illegal, too). If Toyota recalled those accelerator challenged vehicles, and in the process disabled 'left turns', shouldn't they be sued? There's little difference here in my eyes. Sure, Toyota could argue that one could live without left turns, after all 3 right turns equals one left. But would you buy that excuse? Doubtful.
    Reply
  • no one cares about linux, I can slap a pentium 3 with 1 gig ram and a geforce ancient and make a far more usefull linux box than a ps3, face it microsoft has the operating system monopolized
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    The result of any lawsuit is likely to be just some coupons for future Sony products. They are not going to bring the other OS option back. While it was a nifty feature for the technically inclined it's market importance is small compared to game and movie sales and the required DRM. I'm sure third-parties will fix the problem regardless.
    Reply
  • techguy911
    The air force also is looking into taking sony to court as well as researchers if the system fails and they send it in to be repaired they will flash the ps3 with newest firmware as policy thus loosing otherOS.
    Reply
  • sstym
    I don't think they should be sued, because they actually have the rights to add or remove software features at anytime:

    http://www.scei.co.jp/ps3-eula/ps3_eula_en.html

    in particular, read section 3 (Services and Updates)

    "Some services may change your current settings, cause a loss of data or content, or cause some loss of functionality."

    However, this is so deceptive that they should be heckled and/or boycotted for actually doing it.
    Reply