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Comment by jebblue | Hacker News Reader

Remember how PS 3 let users load their own Linux then a year or two later they sent out a firmware update that turned it off. Like imagine buying a car then the dealership sends a rep over and takes the nice stereo out and installs a cheaper model...but doesn't give you a refund, or a choice. And this stood up in court?

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Sony dangles these features like candy and they can take them away on a whim, but I don't think it will happen this time. Sony took away Linux because they were scrambling to plug any potential hole that would lead to piracy on the PS3.

Aside from curiosity, the foremost minds that opened up (jailbroke) the PS3 were motivated because of the lack of homebrew support -- the ability for hobbyists to run unsigned software on the PS3. Getting license to and legally develop for the PS3 is simply not a viable avenue for most people. Sony appears to have their bases covered this time in showing their support for indie developers. If it is easy, and most importantly accessible to develop software on the PS4, you won't see nearly the offensive to crack the system open apart from proof of concept, unpublished or artificially limited exploits.

> Remember how PS 3 let users load their own Linux then a year or two later they sent out a firmware update that turned it off.

It's unfortunate that the attention span of most users is as short. Aside from the Linux issue, the PS3 was decidedly hostile towards small game companies for a very long time (ridiculous development system costs, year long approval process etc.).

Source? I don't know of any small company that actually paid for devkits either from Sony or MS. Year long approval would cost hundreds thousand that small companies are not likely to afford.

It was actually close to three years later, but the rest of your point stands. I, too, am concerned about them "taking back" features I paid for.

That said, in the case of Other OS, I'm pretty sure the only reason they got away with it was because almost nobody used this feature. Indie games would hopefully be more popular, and hence harder for them to back out of.

The fact is Sony just has to produce a more "open" console than Microsoft and Nintendo, and it looks like they are doing that. Microsoft is a huge sell out, looking to control every aspect once again, and Nintendo have lost the plot completely.

There is a 4th possible contender that isn't owned by Sony, MS nor Nintendo. And personally I'm more excited about the Steambox that any of the other consoles (the ability to buy games once and play it on my laptop or games console depending on what room I'm in (or even if I'm at home at all) is very appealing.

Can't you do this already? I think alienware sell units designed for exactly that.

Possibly. I could also built my own HTPC to work with Steam like a games console. I've never really thought about it until now.

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