Actually yes it was for Linux, an awful lot of people lost OtherOS when Sony decided to remove it with no warning if you downloaded the firmware update which DIDN'T mention the removal of OtherOS (it took till 3 updates later for it to you know actually be mentioned) then you had no other way to do it. The upshot of that hack was it gave us the dprm keys which meant we could sign programs to work on the xbar which was a real happy happy joy joy moment because it meant we could actually write a GPU accelerated video player (one of the first homebrews released was showtime).
BTW don't underestimate the desire for OtherOS many people bought the PS3 purely for it.
If you have media centre on your PC the xbox can play anything your pc can ;)
Could you imagine the look on the Purchaser for places like Amazon when Sony told them it was a rental item and they had to get people to sign the lease document before shipping it. ^.^ Sony would be laughed outta the office patted on the back for the good laugh then calmly told to go fuck themselves...

Yes but yet it is another restriction to use their program. ;)

Actually theres plenty of transcoding software that works with it ;) most of it's GPL'd as a nice bonus. But to be honest since MC is part of win7 as standard I have no real complaint about using it rather than free options.

Probably, but people do lease cars. But, it would be a hell of a lot more honest than expecting to cripple people's own console because you're scared that they'll use it in an unapproved way.

People get to keep the otheros feature or play newer games. Which also ignores the people that bought newer PS3s only to find out that features had been stripped leaving them with essentially part of a PS3 and no ability to play older games.

I just don't like using Media center... and I hate another restriction they have - external hdd's restricted to 16gb

Cars are much more expensive though, for something the price of a console hire/purchase is semi common but not for places like Amazon or GAME most of which would look at the workload needed for the hire agreements and ask how many million they were going to be paid to stock even 1 in their stores.

::edit to add::
Just think of it Sony puts up the Ad "PS4 only £10 a month" MS and Ninty would have a field day with "Buy ours for £XXX and it's yours forever!"

+111111111111111111111

Ah, but the removal of those features are part of what prompted failoverflow to blow the PS3 wide open. Sony can remove all the features they want, people can just put them back in. So while he's a dick, none of what Sony did matters any more.

EDIT: GeoHot did two things, the first one is what made Sony lock the PS3 down. Failoverflow then posted instructions on how to open the PS3 up completely (way more than GeoHot ever did) and GeoHot followed these instructions and posted the root keys and that's what got him in actual legal trouble with Sony.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hotz#Hacking_the_PlayStation_3

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't he the brat who took the credit for someone else's crack, got sued and then had some sort of on-line collection for legal fees before finally running away with the money?

By the way, all I need to know abut this person is in the article when he do not stop for a red light he thought was in a stupid place: "“I live by morals, I don’t live by laws,” he went on. “Laws are something made by assholes.”

sigh... neither hate or love, just ignore - he is not worth the attention...

Almost he actually gave the money to the EFF (they confirmed it)

He is quite right on this sentence: “Laws are something made by assholes.”
Who make the laws and rules? You,me or any normal citizen? Or the guys with the money make the rules and laws?

Ah, thats good at least. Before or after the he ran away?
Quote: "Anarchy is the perfect political system and will therefore never work. A perfect system requires perfect people and they do not exist" (don't remember by whom though...)

The way Sony treated GrafChokolo for reintroducing otheros to the console after its removal, made me reconsider buying Sony branded products.

http://gamepolitics.com/2011/06/22/ps3-hacker-039grafchokolo039-sees-jail-time-his-future
http://ps3crunch.com/grafchokolo.html
http://www.ps3iso.com/playstation-news/66674-sony-forced-graf_chokolo-remove-play.html

Repeatedly seize a persons belongings and fine him into submission? - This is not because of piracy, gentlemen. This is because of fair use. A big corporate bully harassing an individual, because he wants to use a product that is his personal property, in a way it originally was intended to? This it truely 'evil'.

Another incident is the audio cd rootkit that silently installs itself on any windows pc.

And.. there was Lik-sang. Also sued into submission:
http://www.lik-sang.com/

You should be ashamed of yourselves, Sony. - Shame on you.

This corporate entity is not worth supporting, you should buy your products from another company.

And yet you can see people here that love Capitalism and all the corporate bullshit :)

This is blatantly wrong. And the removal of this feature AFTER I bought the device is why I'm not going to be buying Sony products in the future. (sadly, its just one of the reasons... but its a significant one).

I didn't rent my PS3... I'll do whatever I want with it. The EULA can protect Sony against certain acts that cut into their profits, but it can't legally prevent me from opening and using that device in ANY way I see fit when its inside my home. Its like cracking a game I already paid for. If they want to sue someone for for stealing games, they have that right. If they want to sue me for how I use a game that I paid for... they won't win. And the counter-suite won't be pretty for them either.