PS3 Hacker Geohot on Lost Linux Support: I’m Sorry

On Sunday, Sony announced that it the next Playstation 3 firmware update will cut off “Other OS” support, which allowed users to install Linux distributions on the console. Effective April 1, PS3 Linux users will have to back up their data and wave goodbye to the feature or avoid the update and sacrifice online play and other features. Sony has only pinned the change on “security concerns,” but hacker George “Geohot” Hotz, who released the first-ever PS3 hack earlier this year (preceded by several high-profile iPhone jailbreaks), which could ultimately allow piracy or other nefarious uses of the consoles, believes he played a role:

First off, I want to apologize to all the people who use Linux on their PS3. Before releasing, I weighed the pros and cons, and considered the possibility of an impact on OtherOS support. My logic was this. OtherOS support had already been removed from the Slim … The builders had apparently no intention of including it in future products. So for the purposes of openness why not release?

Commenters on Hotz’s blog are divided. Some are cursing him for essentially ruining Linux for legitimate users, while others agree with Hotz that Sony was wrong to punish the entire user base. I feel like it’s elementary school all over again, where the class show-off pulled a stunt and cost everyone recess. Of course, Hotz says he’s just going to fight back, looking for a way to restore Other OS. Until that happens, he says not to update. [via Geohot]