Sony Not Reimbursing Retailers over "Other OS"
Sony's not giving out money to compensate for the loss of "Other OS."
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) is putting its foot down and refusing to reimburse retailers over the whole "Other OS" ordeal. As reported earlier this month, SCE yanked Linux support from the PlayStation 3--originally labeled as "Other OS"--in firmware update v3.21. Consumers who purchased the console for its multifunctionality beyond the console "norm" were outraged--one was even provoked into quoting European law and demanding a refund. Although Sony played no part in the exchange, Amazon UK granted a partial refund to the customer.
But SCE is standing firm with its decision to remove the Other OS feature and not compensate consumers. "We do understand the frustration a small number of consumers may feel at SCE's decision to provide an upgrade to the firmware to disable the Linux operating system," said SCE's David Wilson, "but we refute any suggestion that this action is in any way a contravention of the terms of Sale of Goods Act."
In all actuality, SCE should be accused of false advertisement: promoting a product with services that doesn't exist. Many consumers purchased the PlayStation 3 knowing that Linux was an optional operating system. But now that option has been denied, and those consumers are left with a machine that no longer performs as advertised.
But like all business agreements between the manufacturer and the consumer, there's always the fine print as Wilson kindly points out. "The console packaging and the in-box manual for the console do not refer to the use of Linux on the console," he told THINQ. "Rather, the console packaging states that the product's design and specifications are subject to change without notice and that the system software within the console is subject to a limited license between SCE and the consumer, and this license permits SCE to update the system software and services offered from time to time."
He goes on to explain that the Sale of Goods Act only applies to the contract between the retailer and the consumer. "The decision by Amazon to give a consumer a partial refund is clearly between Amazon and the consumer, but we do not expect the decision to have a legal basis and we have no plans to compensate retailers," he added.
Consumers who wish to keep the Other OS option merely need to decline future PlayStation 3 firmware upgrades. The drawback to that is that consumers won't be able to play the latest games or connect to the PlayStation Network. But as THINQ points out, consumers can chose not to install the updates, use the PS3 as Sony intends, or request a refund from the retailer and use that money to purchase an Xbox 360.
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The choice is simple. If you feel betrayed by SCE's actions, don't buy any of their products again. Otherwise this is really a non-issue for the majority of PS3 owners out there.
Sony sucks.
Seems like a good way to lose customers
"But as THINQ points out, consumers can chose not to install the updates, use the PS3 as Sony intends, or request a refund from the retailer and use that money to purchase an Xbox 360."
I love my PS3, but I HATE to be forced to upgrade or else!
This is NOT a good business practice form Sony's part, although I never used teh "other OS" feature, many times I thought about it.... for some time in the future, but now there is no future
errr option.
Also I know about Sony giving us upgrades to fix this or add that
but this was not an upgrade but a blatant downgrade, and I don't beleive that is just a "small minority" that was affected by this malicious downgrade.
Come on.. I mean how many people actually bought PS3's to run Linux? Yeah it's cool and all that it could do that, but it's little more than a toy- like iPod Linux. Serious users will be running on x86 or other supported platforms.
Load of fuss over nothing.
Come on.. I mean how many people actually bought PS3's to run Linux? Yeah it's cool and all that it could do that, but it's little more than a toy- like iPod Linux. Serious users will be running on x86 or other supported platforms.Load of fuss over nothing.
You missed the point. But you are not alone in this.
Exactly darraghcoy,
For the general user,(everyone on this site) linux is just a little extra bonus with no purpose, its a gaming system get over it, you paid $300 for an excellent gaming system and a blu-ray player, what more do you want? You guys dont use these things for supercomputers or clusters but i guess you can all dwell on it.
Time to boycott...
Embargo initiated..
Exactly darraghcoy, For the general user,(everyone on this site) linux is just a little extra bonus with no purpose, its a gaming system get over it, you paid $300 for an excellent gaming system and a blu-ray player, what more do you want? You guys dont use these things for supercomputers or clusters but i guess you can all dwell on it.
What MORE do people want? Here's a reality check, idiot. The Other OS feature was something Sony promoted BEFORE THE LAUNCH OF THE CONSOLE.
It is not about wanting more, it's about wanting what was PAYED for.
i did so i have boxed up my ps3 and bought a xbox 360. my old ps3's primary function as my personal pc on the go is null... i as well hope retailers in response for throwing them out to the copping block is to remove there products from their shelves.
If you bought Microsoft Office a year ago and suddenly Microsoft disabled the use of Outlook for the rest of eternity, would you not feel cheated? Sure, you still get like 5 other programs with Office, but Outlook is on that little list of "Included with this purchase..."
Did Sony provide any compensation to users after that stripped Linux support? Anything at all? Would have been good form to offer a free movie or game download.
All sony would have to do is give away a crappy game to people who called or something. Make it a little more difficult then filling out a form online, and it would keep most people happy, or at least not pissed. As it stands now they just set themselves up to be blasted on internet forums and other places.
calling this update an upgrade is a joke, all it did was take away a feature. didnt even add any features that loyal customers have been asking for.
i for one feel cheated, not everyone agrees but the fact is that it was an advertized feature that had nothing to do with the playstation online/online gaming etc
not good for business to make your cutomers choose linux or online gaming/bd watching when both were advertized
What's effing next? XMB will be removed due to vulnerabilities, USB port, WIFI will be disabled, hackerws can get in HDMI and internet access, it will be disabled.
So, what the Fk next?!!
I still want to buy a PS3 (mostly for a bluray player, as the bluray drive in my laptop failed and I don't have the stuff for warranty, and I have both Pulse and Space Balls waiting for me).
Though removal of linux support is disappointing.
What's next, removing bluetooth headset and 'other HDD' support?
Come on.. I mean how many people actually bought PS3's to run Linux? Yeah it's cool and all that it could do that, but it's little more than a toy- like iPod Linux. Serious users will be running on x86 or other supported platforms.Load of fuss over nothing.
Its people like you that let Sony and Apple keep up with their practices and be so thoughtless and not give a flying f**k about us the consumers. Just please, next time, buy them the condom before you bend over..
Sony is a company with no honour.
I suggest class action suites. They certainly sold the units with full knowledge that some users were buying it because of it Linux capabilities. Lets say one half the price of each unit sold a guess $200 * 20 million units sold, plus lawyer fees. Could add up to Billions.
Oops it may just impact Sony's ability to deliver products to the non other os users.
They would have been smarter to have charged Linux users more for initial purchase. Then they could have made more per unit with Linux and maybe a profit and no one could have complained if they charged for an upgrades for the other OS option.
Note: I was planning to buy a Sony PS3. But then Sony took away the Linux option. I'm not interested in this proprietary crap and poor treatment of own customers. Microsoft treats their Xbox owners and Apple their iPhone users in the same way. I'll stick with Linux computers, applications, games, phone and etc.
They will get punished for this. I've got the good luck (in this case at least...) of living in Europe and the European Union does a good job at persecuting companies breaching its very strict customer protection law.
I'll be ready and waiting, with popcorn.
How does one return a 3 year old console to a retailer? Can I get my $600 back?
Or simply buy a PC
I'm a PS3 user who runs Debian on it. Obviously I'm not upgrading, but this means I'm not buying any more PS3 games either. Way to go Sony...
Its people like you that let Sony and Apple keep up with their practices and be so thoughtless and not give a flying f**k about us the consumers. Just please, next time, buy them the condom before you bend over..
I neither have a PS3 or any Apple hardware, so that argument is null and void straight away. They can't screw me over because I don't buy their products.
And just a quick reality check; do you honestly expect Sony to continue spending money supporting a feature that 99% of PS3 users will never use? No, of course not- it does not make any business sense to do so.
It's no big loss to the Linux community anyways. The platform was stunted to begin with because developers couldn't get at the RSX, and the PS3 makes a poor general purpose computer. If you want true open source then don't tie yourself to a proprietary platform like the PS3. At least don't be surprised when they decide it's no longer convenient for them to support open source.
What MORE do people want? Here's a reality check, idiot. The Other OS feature was something Sony promoted BEFORE THE LAUNCH OF THE CONSOLE.It is not about wanting more, it's about wanting what was PAYED for.
Just because his point of view doesn't align with yours doesn't mean he is an idiot. If you want to just flame people then go somewhere else.
There is no reason to remove a feature listed on the box. How would you Ipod owners feel if apple removed safari from the iPod touch? yeah same thing(it would still be an iPod...right?).
This is crying over spilt milk. And Platypus, thats a bad comparison as a lot of people that have office use outlook a lot. There is only small majority of PS users that use the OtherOS feature. If people really want to have linux, go buy a netbook!! And if you really want to sell the PS3 for a 360, then your an idiot (Not to get into fanboy'ism) but your spending money to play online, so yeah. Considering what sony does give you, you should probably say "Hey thanks for a good product, sure your worried about security issues, but you give me a perfectly good HD media center for a very reasonable price".
I had one of the first gen PS3's and put Linux on it to see what it was like. It was OK, nothing to write home about. I sold the PS3 over a year ago. I have one of the slimlines now and putting Linux on it has not crossed my mind. Ubuntu on my laptop does just fine. I will let my PS3 do what it does best, play games and watch Blue Ray movies.
What MORE do people want? Here's a reality check, idiot. The Other OS feature was something Sony promoted BEFORE THE LAUNCH OF THE CONSOLE.It is not about wanting more, it's about wanting what was PAYED for.
Waaaa, sniff sniff, wwwwaaaaaaaaaaaa. Mommy they took my option away I never was going to use, waaaaaaaaa.
Unfortunately, a company can get itself out of almost anything with "the fine print." It's sad really.
I am a cell broardband linux user, and i am also working on my diploma in IT, it's a good machine and with a few tweaks within the software (i never knew the name George Hotz untill after the update was announced) about i purchased the PS3 because of the other OS feature back when you had to pay $800 in australia, i would not of paid that much for a gaming console, but because of THAT feature and it being something i could work and play with made it an easy purchase.
though who use this option you may day... The US government for for one. though they also don't use the machines for gaming.
But what what Sony has done is wrong, remove a feature that was promoted to me on why the PS3 was different from other gaming consoles, why i should buy a PS3 that was a lot more expensive than xbox 360 at the time was, even as the advertisement says, because It does EVERYTHING.
Now it does not do having, Sony keep saying "a small amount of people" thats not true, i know many people in the community who are pissed off with the decision. And the PS3 "Fanboys" don't help. but the linux users need to group together and tell sony what we think about the other os being removed.
Also what what was seen in europe with the refund from Amazon shows that Amazon still see that terms and conditions are not above the law. you can't buy a table then sony come in and take one of the legs away. and if you signed a piece of paper saying that you would have intercourse with sony it does not say that sony have the right to rape you.
Sony and other big corporations are NOT above the law. People still have basic rights and to pay for an expensive computer that is now paperweight is not on, and if people have had their trust violated let them know. if you call the Sony Playstation help line ask for a complaints address and voice your concerns.
ok, so like people are basically turning ps3 into a media personal computer, which it is intended to do right? be multimedia gaming system with non-gaming media. So by added the linux os it gets turned into like a personal computer. Just alot cheaper and with Blu-ray and a free online services with access to the internet. Hard drive. wifi i think some have dont know for sure. for around 200-400bucks.
If you really read the article it states many things. If a retail company choices to do something over the publishing or manufacturing company it would seem that that company would have to do so to. Not saying Sony is in the right but still.
But that feature of the system was someting if i remember correctly that they highlighted for the system.