One of the most interesting chapters in the history of the PlayStation 3 console is the story of OtherOS. It’s a lesson in how Sony attempted to redefine what a gaming console could do and still managed to piss off its users in the process.
The PS3 was first available in 2006, and it shipped with a neat little feature called OtherOS. This wasn’t just some gimmick – it allowed users to install Yellow Dog Linux or FreeBSD on the console. According to Sony, the console was intended to establish a format similar to that of not just a game machine but a personal computer as well. This was going to launch the console into a new market, putting it ahead of the competition, but that didn’t quite work out.
The Promising Debut of OtherOS
At first, Sony was actually smart about this by selling it as a way to make the console more versatile. They expected it to be popular with tech geeks, developers, and even universities who wanted to harness the might of the PS3’s Cell processor for serious computing.
You’d be able to boot into another OS either from the PS3’s hard drive or from a Live CD. However, Sony put in a security layer called a hypervisor to keep things in line. That effectively barred access to some of the hardware within, such as the RSX Reality Synthesizer graphics chip in particular, to ensure that people didn’t mess with the console’s gaming capabilities.
The OtherOS enabled access to six of the seven Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs) of the Cell Processor. The amount of power available to the processor inside the PS3 made it very attractive as a building block in a cheap computing cluster. For instance, the University of Massachusetts used PS3 units for high-end computing research.
It’s worth noting that Sony’s previous-gen console, the PlayStation 2, also offered support for users to run Linux via an official kit that included an OS, a keyboard, a hard disk drive, and a host of other peripherals. But in the case of PS3, OtherOS was not shipped with a pre-installed Linux distribution and had to be installed by the users at the XrossMediaBar (XMB) menu.
Cancellation and Community Backlash
The OtherOS turned into a significant dispute after Sony announced the removal of this feature in a firmware update 3.21 on April 1, 2010. Sony has argued this cancellation on security grounds, citing the ability to be overridden. This was followed shortly after a hacker, GeoHot, demonstrated the PS3 jailbreaking progress, bringing forth worries about console security.
If the users wanted to remain on the PSN and play new games, they had no option but to let Sony remove OtherOS. Sony had already indicated it would remove OtherOS with the cancellation of the PS3 Slim in September 2009. The users who weren’t jailbreaking or hacking their PS3, like hobbyists and developers who bought a PS3 specifically to run OtherOS, were left high and dry when Sony unilaterally changed the terms by which the console could be used.
And yet when Sony pulled OtherOS entirely from the PS3, it caused an enormous ruckus among Linux enthusiasts and gamers who actually did things with their consoles. Some smart people attempted to avoid the firmware update to retain access to OtherOS through various hacks, like using custom DNS servers to trick their PS3 into allowing them access to the PSN without updating. The PS3MFW team released a modified firmware in 2011, bringing back access to the OtherOS, but these workarounds were kind of complex, and you could definitely run into trouble.
In April 2010, PS3 users filed a class action lawsuit in California alleging that the removal of OtherOS was unfair and deceptive, and broke Sony’s promise to consumers. Sony, they said, had made the PS3 less useful to people who depended on OtherOS. In 2011, a judge by the name of Richard Seeborg threw out the bulk of the claims at the outset, ruling that the plaintiffs did not have an adequate legal theory to make a case. But in 2014, another court disagreed, saying that the case could proceed.
At last, in 2016, Sony chose to make an agreement with users who had set up Linux or got ͏a PS3 due to OtherOS. They first gave $55 or $9 payments, based on the claim. But Judge Yvonne Gonzalez turned down this deal in 2017, saying the lawyers made it hard for users to get their cash. Sony returned with a nicer offer in September 2017, giving up to $65 for each user that qualified. This agreement finally stopped the court fight.
Conclusion
This dazzling story demonstrates several things. The console developers can’t foresee all the possible pros and cons of implementing extra features to increase market sales. The other thing is that users will always find a way to exploit even the smallest vulnerabilities of the system. Lastly, when the gaming community gets together, it can win a huge lawsuit against a mega-corporation, even if the outcome isn’t terribly satisfying. With all that said, OtherOS was a truly groundbreaking feature, but ultimately, it was destined to fail!
