Yesterday Sony announced that the next PS3 firmware update, 3.21 would disable support for the PlayStation's "Other OS" feature. A lot of people don't use this feature at all, so it was no problem for most. However, those that do, value the fact that they're able to run Linux on their console.
Though Sony didn't specify why it was disabling OtherOS (aside from mentioning it was for security reasons), many speculated that it had everything to do iPhone hacker George Hotz' recent revelation that he had hacked his own PS3.
Yesterday Hotz took to his blog to apologise to PS3 users.
"First off, I want to apologize to all the people who use Linux on their PS3. Before releasing, I weighed the pros and cons, and considered the possibility of an impact on OtherOS support. My logic was this. OtherOS support had already been removed from the Slim(not for technical reasons; I believe it only existed in the first place to promote the Cell for IBM) The builders had apparently no intention of including it in future products. So for the purposes of openness why not release? Not like anything else has(or probably will be) done on the PS3."
Hotz goes on to question Sony's decision to remove OtherOS support.
"What security concerns? It's not like the exploit can be run even close to without the users knowledge. You have to open the fucking thing up. How could this harm users? Your blog post doesn't list positive reasons for upgrading like I think most users expect. Instead it lists things you will lose if you don't upgrade. Seriously?"
An hour later, Hotz blogged again and told users interested in keeping Linux support to steer clear of updating.
"A note to people interested in the exploit and retaining OtherOS support, DO NOT UPDATE. When 3.21 comes out, I will look into a safe way of updating to retain OtherOS support, perhaps something like Hellcat's Recovery Flasher. I never intended to touch CFW, but if that's how you want to play..."
Will you be waiting for Hotz' hack or will you update when 3.21 comes out on Thursday?
