SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Gamereactor UK reports
Back when Sony and Microsoft revealed their seventh generation consoles, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, they were in a war of who could shove the most bullet points onto their spec sheets.
That war [...] probably [...] played a part in the fact that you could install and run the Linux operating system on early models of the PS3.
Sony later removed the Linux option with a software update, as hackers had discovered that they could use it to circumvent anti-piracy functions on the console. But removing the Linux features--which Sony had advertised in the marketing of the console--pissed off a bunch of people.
Ars Technica continues
After six years of litigation, Sony is now agreeing to pay the price for its 2010 firmware update that removed support for the Linux operating system in the PlayStation 3.
Sony and lawyers representing as many as 10 million console owners reached the deal on [June 24]. Under the terms of the accord, (PDF) which has not been approved by a California federal judge yet, gamers are eligible to receive $55 if they used Linux on the console. The proposed settlement, which will be vetted by a judge next month, also provides $9 to each console owner that bought a PS3 based on Sony's claims about "Other OS" functionality.
[...] To get the $55, a gamer "must attest under oath to their purchase of the product and installation of Linux, provide proof of their purchase or serial number and PlayStation Network Sign-in ID, and submit some proof of their use of the Other OS functionality".
To get the $9, PS3 owners must submit a claim that, at the time they bought their console, they "knew about the Other OS, relied upon the Other OS functionality, and intended to use the Other OS functionality".
Previous:
PlayStation 4 Hacked to Run Linux
Sony BMG Rootkit Scandal: 10 Years Later
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday June 28 2016, @04:37PM
"some proof of their use of the Other OS functionality"
Sony's update destroyed the functionality? So - it's hard to "prove" that it was ever there, right? Is it necessary for me to show the tatters of a wrecked file system? What constitutes "proof"?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Tuesday June 28 2016, @05:06PM
My understanding is that the firmware update did not reclaim disk space used by the OtherOS feature.
Although, I have seen some comments on this story (forget where) saying they long sold the machine.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday June 28 2016, @08:20PM
My understanding is that the PS3 on which I installed OtherOS functionality YLODed some time about a year after the 2010 update forced me to get rid of my OtherOS installation. Now, five years later, the lawyers set a burden of proof on the ex-owners so high as to be laughable.
Sony knows who owned PS3s during that time period, they have all of our CC information of file from their online store. Although they'll never admit it, they also have "maintenance data" from our consoles telling who installed OtherOS... Now, whether they managed to "lose" that data in the intervening 6 years....
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday June 28 2016, @07:00PM
Ask NSA for connection logs. 27.5$ to them, 27.5$ to you, which will eventually end up to them too once they look at your porn history.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Tuesday June 28 2016, @09:38PM
I assume any online post, email to a friend, or even testimony from a friend that they saw it running Linux would be acceptable. A question on a message board while getting it working. Or bragging. Or actual stuff left behind on the PS3.