The demise of PlayStation Linux

The update is not always optional.

If you get a unit serviced it will get the update even if you don't want it.

It's interesting how some people classify mandatory and optional (usually in sentences like, "my employer forces me to ..."). Do you have to get a unit serviced? Is Sony even required to service it? (If we're talking about an obligation Sony has under a warranty, that's a horse of a different color; It may well be a warranty violation if Sony refuses to fix a box without removing stuff from it that was there when you bought it).

They are saying that you will not be able to play new games or play on the network unless you install this update, so unless you install this update you loose your existing ability to play on the network.

Yep, that's the second view I mentioned, in which something is being taken away. You bought the ability to play on the network; you won't have it tomorrow.

remember, this isn't a 'years after the sale', this is very soon (weeks I think) after they told everyone that this capability would not be going away.

But I don't think anyone's arguing that what Sony did is wrong only because it was a few months later, and if it were more than two years since Sony induced people to buy PS3s with the promise of Linux that it would be OK to screw them now.