Updates to this story
Sony is continuing to pay the price for removing Linux from the PS3.
Hackers have kept Sony's lucrative PlayStation Network offline for a fifth day and Sony seems unable to stop them.
The PlayStation Network is the internet-based retail service that allows users of its PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable devices to buy games, films, music and game add-ons, and to chat with one another.
It was offline on Wednesday after what Sony called an "external intrusion". We guess it was being rude. We would call anyone who hacked TechEye an external intrusion although we would imply that it was the sort of external intrustion that was very small and would probably get laughed at if it was shown to the opposite sex.
Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communications, made a public statement that Sony planned "a thorough investigation ... to verify the smooth and secure operation of its network services".
However on Monday he was starting to run out of ideas. He warned that fixing the network was a time intensive process and Sony was working to get the servers back online quickly.
Clearly this was not a matter of switching them off and switching them on again.
The root cause of Sony's problems is that it removed the "Other OS" option from all PS3 consoles in March last year, which meant users could no longer choose to install and run the Linux operating system.
To get around this problem 21-year-old George Hotz published a root key for the PS3 that meant any content, such as films and music, could be played on a jailbroken device.
Sony took him to court and while it "won" it caused a lot of bad blood with its legal antics. A post on the Anonymous blog on 4 April said the action against Hotz and fellow hacker Graf_Chokolo was "wholly unforgivable".
However Anonymous said that it is not behind shutting down the network and Sony will have to look for a new scapegoat.
What it is proving for Sony is that its PS3 network cannot deal with hacking and so far everything that has happened to the Playstation this year has been bad news related to security.
Trying to pick a fight with hackers appears to have resulted in the outfit becoming a target, and so far Sony has been unable to find a way to stop the attacks. Faced with a choice of a network that does not work, and the fact that Sony seems unable to make its system secure enough, people might start to vote with their feet.
Profit,Profit,Profit... not lets develop a system that works for us and our Customer base by giving them what they want... Alternative OS was one of the reasons I bought my PS3 and now it looks loike PC Gaming is the way forward as game consoles are limited by corperate imaginations....
and they all moving to xbox, which will crash xbox severs because they will over load.
the hackers can keep psn off for years if they want, But please for all the people that want to play psn, please let us play or games with our mates
Every person who signs up to PSN has to agree to the terms and conditions which pretty much outline that sony retain the right to change the software as they see fit, and that unauthorised changing of the software results in some form of action.
But now because a group of hackers who refuse to accept this and want to use their ps3s to run linux (which, to be fair, is something that could easily be done better via a pc or laptop), and then throw a hissy-fit when Sony lives up to its promise of taking out action and because of this, normal PSN users-like myself, and no doubt even the hackers themself- are unable to play their games online, and it's not Sony's fault, it's the hacker's.
The other part thinks that if this outage goes long enough, their consoles will go down in price, and who knows, I even might buy one... ^_^