LWN: Comments on "Sony agrees to pay millions to gamers to settle PS3 Linux debacle (ars technica)"

Are they going to restore the functionality?

Flukas88 — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 15:39:42 +0000

Usually US believes that the world begins and ends with 'em :)

Sony agrees to pay millions to gamers to settle PS3 Linux debacle (ars technica)

xtifr — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 20:52:16 +0000

In my experience, big diversified companies like that are usually completely schizophrenic, and you can't judge one division by what another one does. The left hand rarely knows what the right is doing. Bureaucracies just can't muster that sort of intelligence. Anyone remember when IBM couldn't persuade IBM to distribute OS/2 on their own computers? And IBM isn't even close to as diversified as Sony. Fact is, I owned and loved a bunch of Sony equipment at the time, and, since this was before the whole rootkit debacle*, I didn't see any particular reason to mistrust them. And it wasn't like I was going to give my money to <em>Microsoft!</em> :D

If you'd told me at the time how things were going to play out over the next several years, I would have dismissed you as a paranoid loon. And even the fact that you turned out to be right wouldn't have changed that opinion—even a stopped clock is right every so often.

* Which really should be blamed on BMG anyway. BMG wasn't owned by Sony until just before the release--not enough time to develop the it.

Sony agrees to pay millions to gamers to settle PS3 Linux debacle (ars technica)

ccchips — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 11:50:54 +0000

I know about the Linux kit, and even then I didn't trust them; I had a suspicion there was some ulterior motive....maybe to court sceners and then lure them away from Windows and Linux games, or get them to work for their movie companies?

Gamers

Wol — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 11:44:31 +0000

> The non-gamers didn't have to upgrade; they were able to go on running Other OS. They just lost all access to PSN and game updates and the like. It's the people who wanted to play games and run other OSes who were harmed. (Or people who wanted to use other things available for the PS3, like Netflix, which also went away if you didn't get the no-other-OS upgrade.)

They DID have to upgrade (or rather, were upgraded without their consent!) if the Playstation developed a "return to base" fault ...

Cheers,
Wol

Are they going to restore the functionality?

pboddie — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 10:13:56 +0000

I guess the users should feel lucky that their share didn't get funnelled into some conveniently-positioned non-profit that claims to advocate for vaguely-similar causes, if memory of other settlements is any indication.

Gamers

andresfreund — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 22:14:31 +0000

FWIW, chrome on linux supports netflix; albeit with some resolution restrictions.

Sony agrees to pay millions to gamers to settle PS3 Linux debacle (ars technica)

xtifr — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 22:07:18 +0000

Sony's a big company, with dozens of semi-independent divisions. They made excellent monitors at one time. And they were (briefly) the only game console company that actively supported Linux!* Which (equally briefly) made me a big fan. Of course, we see how that turned out.... :D

* Before the PS3 even came out, they were selling a Linux kit, with its own harddrive and whatnot, for the PS Two. Neither MS (of course) nor Nintendo ever did anything even close to that.

Gamers

xtifr — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 21:59:05 +0000

The non-gamers didn't have to upgrade; they were able to go on running Other OS. They just lost all access to PSN and game updates and the like. It's the people who wanted to play games and run other OSes who were harmed. (Or people who wanted to use other things available for the PS3, like Netflix, which also went away if you didn't get the no-other-OS upgrade.)

In fact, Netflix is the primary thing my PS3 does—my desktop runs Linux, which, last I checked, means no Netflix, and also, it's not hooked up to the big TV in the living room, unlike my PS3. But I also play some games, though I wouldn't consider myself a "gamer". Plus, y'know, the kids like games. The Other OS option was a big part of the reason I went with the PS3 instead of an Xbox or Nintendo, though. Because I'm also a software developer who works primarily with Linux.

If you're referring to people who bought the "slim" 2nd ed. PS3 which never had the OtherOS option, then you might have a point, except that those were never advertised as having OtherOS, and Sony did make attempts to warn people, so it falls more into caveat emptor category. It's the ones of us who had the old, "fat" PS3 who lost an option we'd paid for (either the option to run other OS or the option to play games/Netflix/whatever, our choice) who were really harmed.

Sadly, I only fall into the $9 category. I never quite got around to trying out the OtherOS option. On the other hand, it's sorta fair; I never got around to trying it, even though it was a motivation for my original purchase. Honestly, though, I'd rather have them restore the option for those of us who (still) want it than get a stupid $9. *sigh*

Are they going to restore the functionality?

zoobab — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 15:51:30 +0000

Lawyers get the money, end-users gets cacahuetes.

Sony agrees to pay millions to gamers to settle PS3 Linux debacle (ars technica)

JFlorian — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 15:28:11 +0000

From the report """
To get the $55, a gamer "must attest under oath to their purchase of the product and installation of Linux, provide proof of their purchase or serial number and PlayStation Network Sign-in ID, and submit some proof of their use of the Other OS functionality."
"""

How on earth would one prove their use if they used it as a hobbyist? I had YellowDog on mine until they yanked the feature. Then my BR drive burned itself out and the more I learned about the cause and how common it was I swore Sony off forever, including deleting my account and everything related to that terrible company. I'm certainly eligible and would love to make this cost them as much as possible but it seems that once again the legal firms are the only ones who win here.

Non-US

anselm — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 09:59:36 +0000

At least in this case the customers seem to get cash rather than coupons redeemable for PlayStation 3 games.

(The lawyers get cash, anyway; ISTR a case in which the judge suggested that they should also get a million dollars' worth or so of PlayStation game coupons instead, but that didn't go anywhere.)

Gamers

gevaerts — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 08:42:32 +0000

I'm slightly confused. Isn't the issue that *non-gamers* bought those things and then couldn't use them? I thought the gamers were fine!

Sony agrees to pay millions to gamers to settle PS3 Linux debacle (ars technica)

k8to — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 05:07:03 +0000

Sony's been this way since at least Betamax. I guess modern tech has just given them opportunities to express their awfulness more fully.

Non-US

k8to — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 05:04:18 +0000

Indeed, the situation was "resolved" for US-based customers by this class action mechanism. It isn't resolved for those outside the US.

Our class-action system is good at one thing, making large moneyed targets pay out some significant penalty even when there's no natural source of funding for the suit. It's not terribly good at fixing injustice, helping the wronged, or giving people a choice about the legal outcome.

Are they going to restore the functionality?

eru — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 04:49:46 +0000

Yeah, wasn't OtherOS put in there so they could claim it was a general-purpose computer as an *EU* tax dodging trick?

I found this tax angle intriguing, and searched a bit. Earlier Sony had tried this: Sony adds Basic to PlayStation to sidestep EC import tax, but it did not work: UK court rules PS2 not a computer. However, it seems the tax difference between game consoles and computers was repealed in 2004: Case against Sony for Removing the Other OS dismissed (discussion, didn't find a more authoritative link). So complaining about Sony's actions to EU probably would not work.

Sony agrees to pay millions to gamers to settle PS3 Linux debacle (ars technica)

ccchips — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 01:43:29 +0000

Another example of why I will never buy from Sony again. I have a DVD/Internet player from them that has crappy support, crappy wifi, poor support for DLNA, no software updates other than those that put more restrictions on its use, and of course, the Sony attitude.

Are they going to restore the functionality?

pboddie — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 22:46:28 +0000

If so, I'd like to see the European Union pursue this. $2M to some lawyers plus corporate pocket change for the people actually affected (plus, admittedly, a bunch of opportunists trying to get in on "the action") might seem cheap once the dust settles.

Non-US

markhb — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 20:45:27 +0000

The settlement class only includes people residing in the USA, so since you aren't part of the class you aren't bound by the settlement (IANAL, YMMV, etc.) I would assume your option would be to take Sony to court yourself, or, if the law in your area allows class action suits, find a lawyer who specializes in them to help you take them to court.

Are they going to restore the functionality?

flussence — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 20:34:46 +0000

Yeah, wasn't OtherOS put in there so they could claim it was a general-purpose computer as an *EU* tax dodging trick?

Are they going to restore the functionality?

Wol — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 20:13:57 +0000

And what about all the people who bought a PS3, but *don't* live in the US?

Or the people who didn't sign up to the update, but Sony installed it anyway?

Cheers,
Wol