US Air Force: “Sony Has Abandoned Us”

That was the first thing that came to my mind when they announced they were taking out the OS ability.

Oh well, every employee gets a PS3?

It's still funny how the machines are good for everything except gaming.

They don't really need to sell gutted PS3s, but they can justify the R&d costs on the cell a bit if they start making low cost modular supercomputing clusters with it. I'd say design a small box that stacks with its brethren kinda like a lego brick, and lets you treat the whole cluster as one machine.

Fuck the USAF. Sorry, Sony has not abandoned you. They, a legitimate business, closed a door which you, personally, exploited to cost them as much as $60,000 in lost revenue which will never be made up because you are not subsidizing the cost of their hardware through the purchase of their software.

You also had a budget of $160.5 billion (that's with a B, folks) and are complaining about the cost of building a supercluster which, if it cost $200,000 to create from scratch, would be 0.000001246% of your allocated funding or 0.0013% of the cost of a single F-22A.

And you're seriously complaining about a business taking steps to protect an investment and prevent piracy of games?

Get over yourselves.

There is also the black budgets. Your don't really think they pay $300 for a toilet seat or $1900 hammers.

Which is exactly what they are doing with OtherOS. Why are they even responding if firmware 3.3 will never even touch their PS3s.

Displaying a red ring.

Yeah, because it's not like the USAF has a 160.5 billion dollars for their budget, which goes towards aircraft which cost 150 million dollars.

Clearly, Sony is abandoning them when they decide to limit the ability for research companies to be subsidized by Sony's sales division. Simply put, buying a console that costs $500 to make and paying $300 at 2,000 consoles means that while yes, you paid $60,000, Sony paid $40,000 for your shiny new supercomputer.

Which you will never pay them back through the sale of games for their console.

Is it any surprise that Sony sees money being hemorrhaged by console sales not backed by software sales and does something to close that gap?

"although unlike most Sony critics it does actually use the OtherOS"

Please desist from talking out of your arse.

Now I know why real-life war is slowly becoming a video game....

I do think that the USAF should get an examption from Sony over the issue. Afterall, those PS3s　are not for dubious purpose.

# ...

# HELLO DOCTOR FALKEN

# WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME?

Well, they only need the ps3's for the hardware anyway. Can't they just make their own software or are the USAF all computer illiterate?

It wasn't the Airforce, it was the Navy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_seat#U.S._Navy.27s_.22.24600_Toilet_Seat.22

"Find a bad guy, I'll buy you ice cream for dinner..."

If that would happen. I would go to the army just to see tha girls and pantsu :)

Running circles around China's Vii supercluster.

Why? So you can constantly be replacing RR units?

Skynet will also not be pleased.

wow this is cool now they can replace the PS2 in Iraq and Afganistan for a PS3 more fun better GFX :p

not just corporations...

Try the US government on that deal.

Case in point. in the 1930s (FDR - democrat) a farmer had a small field, most of the time he grew wheat, he didn't sell the wheat, or even give it away, he grew and ate it. then comes the us government, they say he can't do that, they say he's impacting interstate commerce, and sue the guy for growing his own wheat. since congress can regulate interstate commerce, they can regulate farms and the like, and they say he's impacting commerce, because he's not selling the wheat, or that he's not buying other peoples wheat, so he's impacting interstate commmerce, and the Governement Wins! he can't grow his own wheat!!!! Fuck mega corperations, and Fuck governments that screw u over for making your own shit!!

Let my comment be ignored by OtherOS was just blocked. You'll need an authorization from Sony itself.

Zenito has abandoned Libertas...

Wait. DIdn't Sony reinstall Linux onto the PS3 via a firmware update not too long after the removal? If that is true, then why all this nonsense? O.o

To quote Gen. Lesley Groves:
An elephant is a mouse to military specifications

They actually make a profit on an even newer hardware revision now. So there is absolutely no reason to refuse selling them to groups like the Airforce.

Isn't "razor and blade" type of product tying illegal in the United States? They could simply blackmail Sony to provide appopriate replacement units or else...

I have an ps3 (with Linux)that the US air force can buy for a fair price ;)

FOR SALE

2,036 MINT PS3's

Contact

US Air Force

(ask for Steve)

They could buy cell blades and simply move the software over with few changes.

The bad part they are much more expensive though they have 8GB of ram each.

Really Sony should just enter the super computer market and sell an expandable version of the PS3 hardware with an unlocked hyperviser ,8 ddr2 dimm slots and PCI-e X16 slots.
Sell it for $2000 and they could crush Dell and Apple in the HPC market.

They also could sell a $500 to $800 version with expandable memory running yellow dog or ubuntu as a home computer/media center.
Pit it against the Mac mini.

The share holders should pressure to have the morons behind the removal of linux support fired maybe even have the CEO step down.
What they could make in the HPC/server market dwarfs any loss linux might cause from piracy since cell beats X86 so badly in performance per watt.

Uh, that's the entire point here. The USAF is using PS3s for their hardware. Sony is now making it impossible to replace or repair failing hardware. They can make all the software they want, but that won't fix broken hardware.

Its all USAF's fault. US government has too many contractors such as IBM, Cray and Lockheed, and so they decided to take on the product of a market oriented company. They have no right to complain.

Whatever you think of the USAF, if you are going to say it's just capitalism and Sony's good right to do whatever they want in terms of features, you shouldn't grieve over research customers busting Sony's pricing model. It's not like customers have some kind of obligation to bring them profits.

The USAF supercomputer is partly paid off of your eroges! (considering PS3s were selling the hardware at a loss and their profits came from game sell margins)
Support the US army, buy more EROGEs!

You know, it would be so funny is the Air Force, the fucking U.S. MILITARY, were the only ones who actually have a legitimate reason to go to court over this.

The Air Force's Birds are in their 30's they need the money to buy new ones.

Air Frames have a limited service life, there are only so many upgrades you can make to any kind of machine and when you have a fleet of them. Redundant maintenence and upgrades take their toll on their budget.

Sooner or later they have to get new birds. With their budgets being trimmed here and there, they have to be more efficient and responsible now-a-days.

Its more cost effective for their pilots to train in a simulator. But to have a ready aircraft to go at a moments notice,... It isn't something to have to depend upon if its an obsolete deathtrap that could come down on your house just because of a mechanical problem from old age.

This ain't the 70's - Govt's have to be more fiscally responsible for what they spend their monies on. They can't just keep on adding to the national deficits like there is no tommorow.

We're in a tough economic era now because of those free spending times of the past.

o.o

I hope they get sued (sony) regardless of whether you used the other OS feature or not they removed a feature they gave you at the point of sale.

Sony are indian givers.

i agree to your opinion and can say that calculating power cost per unit compared to usual soper computer is MUCH lover then usual ones

The tone of this article indicates some extreme hate for the U.S. Air Force. Well, if it take the Air Force to bring some kind of resolution to the PS3 Linux debacle then I am all for it.

You're insane. If they did that, imagine what would happen when several of those suddenly RROD while processing new counterterrorism tactics?

no

Not directly. They have it on some price sheet, but you can't order them.

IBM sells Cell based servers, but they are magnitudes more expensive then the PS3.

it's a sony...

"limited DoD budgets" yeah, you poor fellows. Say brother, can you spare a dime?

I read the original Ars Technica article a few days ago. Then I read the Sankaku rewrite. Its amazing how the choice of words in each respective article influences the tone of each article so greatly.

I especially liked how it is said that 'cheapskate research institutes cobbling together supercomputers from subsidised home consoles are hardly in a position to complain' instead of something like 'economical research institutes that assemble supercomputers in novel ways by taking advantage of subsidies by technology companies still have a legal right to complain even though they stand to be criticised on their frugality'.

Still, as always, I enjoyed reading the article. Somewhat in the same way some people enjoy FOX news.

The Cell processor on it's own is not much better than any other processor of similar performance class. What makes this clusters work is the price of a whole assembled architecture. Even GPU can be used solely for math calculations, with the right programming skills.

Wow...
Guess now we can say a lot of PS3-s were used for the OtherOS feature.
.
.
.
I wonder if it will be possible to hack the OtherOS feature into Slims?

HA!!
I never knew the USAF did this kind of thing with consoles.

Does Sony sell Cell processors?

Yes, I remember a video card for PC with a Cell processor. Using a cluster of consoles is way cheaper than developing a multiprocessor hardware platform from scratch, though.

"console hardware is usually sold at a loss, with profits coming from software sales"

Than just make softare cheaper, while increasing the price of the hardware. Silly Sony. ;D

good idea, now the problem is finding where magic comes from . . .

my mom tell me im a genius!

stop buying them $300 toilet seats then

Can we just implement the Strike Witches scheme and get all these backwards technology out of the way?

Does Sony sell Cell processors?

I would like to see the rack of atari 2600s they used back in the very early 1980s. It must have been full of more than 1,000,000 of them. Awesomeness extreme Air Force computer system.

It would be righteous if they could win wars using videogame console clusters as Super Computers...

"It took us 2000 PS3's to win the war!!!"

I can smell the money in my bank already. I'm an owner of 4 PS3s. Can't wait to cash this...

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/win
wth?

Who cares PS3? Who cares sony? Lets buy 360!

You sound even more buthurt than the USAF.

Because Sony would charge more than double or triple the price compared to just buying the ps3s.

It's like you're really 12 years old!

"unlike most Sony critics it does actually use the OtherOS feature."

lol. And most Xbox Live mass ban critics don't even use it.

As for Sony selling each PS3 unit below its actual manufacturing cost, we need a new component price analysis. They've probably broken even by now.

@ denn 03:25 :

As with any organization, some sub-groups are better funded than others. It's all internal politics.

Procurement Group: "We want XX billion dollars for the new super-secret ultra-stealth Gigafighter 3000 program."

People-in-Charge: "Okay."

Training/Research Group: "We'd like half a million dollars to develop a computer-simulated immersive environment, which will more effectively, and more cheaply, train our pilots who are responsible for aircraft costing upwards of one hundred million dollars apiece."

People-in-Charge: "Are you fukkin' nuts?! Do you think money grows on trees?! Here's $50K. Be glad we don't take it out of your salaries!"

Too bad most of you have been spoon fed "Right Wing" corporate propaganda since the 80s, it's destroyed critical thinking skills. And this goes all the way to the top: The big companies think they can dictate value, but things are only worth what another person is willing to place in them. And that they are anything but inflated pigs that feed off the labor of others.

Now, let's say we could turn back the clock a few centuries and I was an apple grower. I owned an orchard that had several types of apples which I both had deals with other tradesmen (like wine/cider makers and dining clubs) and of course sold in the market.

Perhaps I'd have just 'released' a 'special' type of apple from a few trees I'd grown from apples taken from many miles away on a trip/pilgrimage when I was a lad so I had a tree no one else had yet and given the time to maturity would have that for a while to come...

Well, I might say "These apples are better suited to make pies, to use in baking" but that'd be it. Anyone who wants them, can afford or trade with me for them, or I'm feeling generous, can have them. I'll certainly market them the way I see fit, but it's in my best interest to as much as is reasonable sell as many as possible to anyone and everyone.

If someone buys an apple and carves it into a "Bong" then later likes this so much he dries then resins it so it's permanent, frankly I'll give him a few more apples and look at his handiwork and might ask for one myself suggesting he sets up a stand at the market. Perhaps I might even loan him the table, chair, apples on trust that he'd pay me back (no interest!) and become a permanent trade partner, my 'baking' apples much better suited for that craft than softer 'eating' ones. That's an if, there might be a "Pipe Carving" guild, but in that case I'd refer him to them to handle that also. Unlike stereotypes, they'd not suppress him, they'd probably like it and if his idea takes off incorporate him into their guild.

Now, someone who behaved like businesses today:

1. They'd inflate the price using any and every means possible, including burning orchards of rivals and when the law would stop that buying up to let go fallow orchards.
2. They'd work together to form a "Price fixing" conspiracy when #1 failed.
3. They'd try to get the law to make it illegal to grow apples from seeds, calling it "Theft of intellectual Property".
4. And, coming back to my issue, they'd try to force people to only use the product the way they said it was meant for. Just eating 'baking' apples you'd be harassed and the already inflated prices would go up. Mr. Johnny Mary Jane bong apple smoker would get sued for "Degrading our Intellectual Property".
5. The pipe maker's owners, a LLC. would try to get the Apple bong maker killed, even with pipes made in a different land under slave labor not selling well and falling apart. Perhaps he might "Luck out" and they'd just buy his idea for a pittance, then again export it to the slave labor market to avoid paying any guildman a living wage for making them, at the cost of quality and safety.

----To cite another article here this day, perhaps the pipes would be so shoddily constructed they'd find ways to catch fire in people's hands -or- some of the resin would end up explosive and they'd explode in people's faces...!