Some Quick thoughts on Sony and the OtherOS

For anybody who follows tech news, this is an old story indeed. In early 2010, Sony released the PS3 ‘Slim,’ an update to their current generation gaming console. Along with the release came some new firmware that removed a previously available feature from the machine: the ability to run an alternative operating system such as Linux, on the hardware. As this story has been widely covered elsewhere, I won’t both to go into the details here – you can read all about them in the links at the bottom of the page.

Instead, I’d like to put forth an alternative theory as to why Sony removed the feature. Regardless of your thoughts on open source software or how you feel about the potential for game piracy on these systems, I doubt that Sony removed the feature out of an effort to fulfill some kind of evil plot for world domination. As I see it, this situation revolves around the pricing models that are traditionally built into the sale of consoles and video games.

Just like cellphone manufacturers, console manufacturers often sell their hardware at a hugely reduced price. They do this with hopes of making up the lost revenue potential in game sales (often measured with a ratio called ‘attachment rate’ by industry insiders). This is often called the ‘razor and blades’ model of economics. If you’ve ever purchased four razor blades for $20 in order to use a free razor that was mailed to you by a drug store, you’ll know why. But that’s another story.

The point is, a hobbyist who could run Linux on her PS3 might do something ridiculous with the hardware, like oh, say, build a supercomputer out of 1760 of them. Since she isn’t buying any games to go along with all of that hardware, she represents a serious loss for Sony’s bottom line. I’m not saying that this is the average activity that most hobbyists engaged in when using the OtherOS feature of the PS3, but I can’t help but think that it is an oft-overlooked point in this debate. If you stood to lose a significant amount of money for every person who purchased a product that you sold and stood to improve your potential earnings by disabling a feature that most of your user base didn’t even know about, I think you’d do the same thing.

Related Links:

It no longer does everything: no more Linux on PlayStation 3 (Ars Technica)

Norway: Sony’s PS3 “updates” actually downgrade system (Ars Technica)

Can’t stop the signal: Sony’s options limited in face of PS3 jailbreak (Ars Technica)

Playstation 3 (Wikipedia)