U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

[Malacite]

Air Force disappointed by PS3's Other OS removal -- Joystiq


Guess I have to take back my stance on this matter, as I didn't think anyone important really gave a damn about this issue.

It seems we'll all have to be a little more careful before we mock PS3 owners that have voiced concern over Sony's decision to remove the "Install Other OS" option from the console (via a recent firmware update). "What nerdlinger would be so bent out of shape about that?" you might wonder aloud. As we've just learned from Ars Technica, that nerdlinger happens to be the United States Air Force.

The military branch uses a network of around 2,000 PlayStation 3 units running Linux for research, a structure which proved to be more affordable thanks to Sony's hardware subsidy. The setup isn't in any immediate trouble, as the consoles aren't hooked up to PSN and don't need to be updated, but when the units die out it will be difficult -- if not impossible -- to replace them. Considering they just constructed the rig a few months ago, the Air Force has expressed disappointment. And as you'll read in the Ars story, Uncle Sam isn't alone in his frustration.

Oh, and sorry about the lack of Top Gun references in this post, but that's actually a movie about the Navy. We know, we were disappointed too.

Who knew o.O

[Pwnagraphic]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

Wow. They have 2 suits against them over this OS business.
I too didn't think it was going to be a big deal.

[Takelli]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

Damn... I didn't relize that the Air Force actually used PS3s for research.

I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I just though "No OS add function? No biggy." But then it seems that the US Air Force actually needs it. lol

[Feba]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

tl;dr-- Taxpayers, Sony just cost you money.

[Mhurron]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

tl;dr-- Taxpayers, Sony just cost you money.

when the units die out it will be difficult -- if not impossible -- to replace them

It was going to cost money to maintain and support anyway. After a year your support becomes, buy another one. You heard about this installation now because they can use this exact excuse you did so they can shift blame when they have a higher failure rate, no support contract and had to buy more units instead of having them replaced under warranty.

The military isn't exactly known for being the most forward thinking or penny pinching, so I suppose you can forgive them for not purchasing hardware with long term support, or reliable components.

They have 2 suits against them over this OS business.

I only know of one class action. Which means some lawyers are going to make a bunch of money, Sony won't really notice a difference and the people supposedly all hot under the collar about it will get a $5 coupon off a SCEA game.

[Malacite]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

The military isn't exactly known for being the most forward thinking or penny pinching, so I suppose you can forgive them for not purchasing hardware with long term support, or reliable components.

Going to stop you right there. You're mostly right, but the PS3 is so far the most durable, nigh-unbreakable piece of gaming hardware ever conceived. Apart from the very rare Yellow Light, it's a solid machine. What surprises me more than this is Sony actually sold their rights to the Cell to Toshiba IIRC. Very stupid move, IMO as Cell is the main reason PS3's are being used in place of more expensive super computers.

[Feba]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

It was going to cost money to maintain and support anyway.

Perhaps you didn't notice the sarcasm.

Short posts have a lot of it sometimes.

[Mhurron]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

Going to stop you right there. You're mostly right, but the PS3 is so far the most durable, nigh-unbreakable piece of gaming hardware ever conceived.

10% failure rate is significantly higher then is expected in installations were actual work is done. On top of that, any non-game playing installation is using the hardware pretty much outside of it's design parameters, so even just relying on warranty issues doesn't tell the whole story as far as reliability goes.

sold their rights to the Cell to Toshiba IIRC

You recall incorrectly, the Cell always was a joint IBM, Toshiba, SCA project. It is based on IBM's Power architecture.

---------- Post added at 07:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:15 PM ----------

Perhaps you didn't notice the sarcasm.

Short posts have a lot of it sometimes.

Your position on the matter earlier made it a strong possibility you were serious.

[Elwynn]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

[Feba]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

Your position on the matter earlier made it a strong possibility you were serious.

Eh. It's a dick move by Sony, but it's the entities that can't afford better that I feel sorry for. People who just want to fuck around with linux on it for their own reasons, maybe some colleges and research groups. But the airforce blows millions upon millions on aircraft they don't even actually want, they can afford to buy a decent fucking computer.

[DakAttack]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

Who cares.

[Icemage]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

Oh please. Like Sony won't make an exemption if the USAF sends them a memo and says "Remember those thousands of PS3s we bought? We need some more that can run Linux." I doubt Sony is worried about the US military cracking their security (if for no other reason than if they were to do it, Sony would have a big fat sitting target for a lawsuit).


Icemage

[Etra]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

I'm going to go with the standard "lol @ the American military" for using something outside its intended purpose: video games. If you buy a PS3, a Wii, Xbox, or super-mega-dolphin-flip-box-948 and get disappointed when it can only run video games... yeah. Not sure what to tell you.

Siding with Feba. Not going to get into politics and how bad the American government controls tax cash, it should of had more foresight and got actual freaking super-computers.

[Kailea]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

I'm going to go with the standard "lol @ the American military" for using something outside its intended purpose: video games. If you buy a PS3, a Wii, Xbox, or super-mega-dolphin-flip-box-948 and get disappointed when it can only run video games... yeah. Not sure what to tell you.

Siding with Feba. Not going to get into politics and how bad the American government controls tax cash, it should of had more foresight and got actual freaking super-computers.

sorry but this is where your wrong, They bought all those PS3s because for them it was a cheaper alternative for what they wanted them for, and the PS3 was being advertised to have this feature of running Linux.

When you advertise something a product of yours can do, you just don't take it away, and Sony has done this three times now, first they took out PS2 play, then the media ports, and now the OS feature. Now I would be one of the first to say something like "all I want my game system to do is play games" but I still defend the fact that if you advertise your system to do something, it better fucking do it. You don't remove it because of piss pore "survey results".

[Clever Ninja]

Re: U.S. Air Force Disappointed in Sony

I remember reading the article about the AF using all those PS3's. I think they chose those just because A) the PS3's had the capability to do the task they needed them for when they linked them all up together as they did and B) it was the cheaper option at the time.

While I see this article as nothing but another attempt to get at Sony, frankly they HAVE removed several features from the PS3 overtime, whether it was to cut costs or security purposes, and it's pretty misleading to advertise a product and then strip that feature away. While the Linux thing didn't effect the majority of users in the slightest, it was still a dick move and if Sony didn't fathom that putting a separate OS, Linux of all things, could cause possible PS3 security concerns they could have scrapped that from the beginning since that's the logical thing to do. They obviously just used that as a sales gimmick to try and catch up on sales when it debuted.