It would have been better if Sony had to put the Linux support back in. What good are $55 (after jumping through lots of hoops) if you want to run Linux on your PS3?
Imagine if Apple did something like this and decided to disable Bootcamp on all Macs and make your Windows and Linux installs inaccessible if anyone updated your computer. This is probably the most anti-consumer and anti-developer move I can think of in computing history (although the rootkit Sony CDs were pretty bad too). Sony had a whole developer community working for them for free, making software, supporting their system, and evangelizing for them before they decided to shut them down and even pursue them with legal threats for doing what Sony asked them to do, experiment and create.
Even if they somehow can't fix the PS3, just adding some official support for OtherOS on PS4 which uses conventional hardware would send a huge message that they actually care about their fans and would help to counter Microsoft's move opening the Xbox to Windows apps for expanded utility.