Attention PS3-Clustering Scientists: Don't Upgrade Your Firmware!

What's that sound I hear? Is it the sound of cash crackling in the fire? Of both research and economic opportunity being flushed down the drain?

Sony clearly has a chance to make money and preserve this opportunity the ps3 provides. They could continue to support the linux feature for a small fee that would make it profitable for them to continue developing it and selling ps3's with the capability, that is provided that it still enables cheaper supercomputing than otherwise available.

But I'm no expert, perhaps maintaining a manufacturing variant to this end just wouldn't be profitable even with a price bump for selected "research" ps3's. But it's still stupid to knock it out through the firmware. The firmware upgrade out to come with a linux option for research computers even if that does mean an extra fee.

If you are using them for research, then you most likely arent using them to game with during your breaks. Using firmware updates(which you do not need to install) that only effect you if you want to game on the PS3 is a correct method of fixing this problem.

pow: The ps3 currently has an application called "Folding @ Home" that allows people to use the processing power of the multicore processors while they aren't gaming to fold proteins for a Stanford research project. By the sounds of it, this update will mean they can no longer do that. Of course the main function is to game, but it's nice to think you are helping something with your space power.

By space power, I mean extra power..

Time for a new slogan... "it almost does everything"

It's been a staple of gaming consoles for a long time that companies lose alot of money with every single unit they sell, they are basically giving away XBox360, PS3's and such. They make their money off the royalties charged to game developers using their software designs and the system to produce their games. Which is why the games cost around $59.

So a customer only interested in purchasing the PS3 which is a loss in profit from the get go, and will never purchase the software meant to not only negate that loss but return profit to them. Not the customer your most happy satisfying.

They could market a PS3 "better suited" for such scientific purposes, but it'd probably be a marginal upgrade to the standard one and with a much higher price tag.

So from Sony's perspective I can see why they wish to stop such behavior in a business perspective. Although I'm sure they wouldn't mind their logo being displayed next to any impressive scientific discoveries linked to such computing using a PS3.

I think that hacker is making quite a big deal out of this... But I can understand why they might enjoy linux. I don't have it on my PS3 but it does seem like quite a good feature to have. I'm sure many people enjoy some great third party stuff thanks to the linux installation.

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