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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

PlayStation 3 Phat owners have a month left to claim 'OtherOS' class action settlement [polygon.com]

The settlement was reached in October 2016 [polygon.com], and originally PS3 owners were told to expect up to $55. That's increased to $65 now, possibly because fewer claims than expected were submitted in the 18 months since.

This resolves, legally anyway, the removal of the so-called "OtherOS" feature from the PS3's operating system eight years ago. That feature allowed users to partition their PS3's hard drive and install Linux on it. You may remember that, before then, the console was pitched and even used as a computer, including by the Air Force (which created a supercomputer cluster [phys.org] out of more than 1,700 of the consoles) and in distributed computing applications such as Folding@home [wikipedia.org] and SETI@home [wikipedia.org].

But in April 2010, Sony stripped out the OtherOS feature, citing security concerns, which pissed off a small but very vocal contingent of PS3 users. That led to the lawsuit, which alleged false advertising, breach of warranty and etc. Sony admits no wrongdoing, which is customary in civil settlements.

"Phat" refers to the original console [wikipedia.org], which weighed approximately 5 kg and measured 325 mm (W) × 98 mm (H) × 274 mm (D).

Make a claim here [otherossettlement.com].

Also at BetaNews [betanews.com].

Original Submission