f13.net

Straight out of the mouth of known liars (http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000923046200/).

That would be kind of cool, since it'd make modding it into a living room entertainment computer much, much easier.  And possibly without even voiding my warranty or compromising online play.  On the other hand, I already own a bunch of computers.  That's not why I buy consoles.

Also some claptrap in there about using the EyeToy to make a gesture-based interface.

I don't get all the hype over Linux.

Nothing I own, to my knowledge, would run on Linux, so I don't understand why people are always soiling themselves over it. Sure, it's very customizable, but too bad I can't game on it.

The Linux command line is incredible glue for doing anything you want to anything.  If, for example, I wanted to use an EyeToy to navigate RSS feeds, that would be possible.  Or if I wanted to setup a collaborative filtering engine that kept track of how much I time playing certain games and networked with other people to recommend other games based on that information, I could probably do that, too.

The cool thing about Linux is all the free (or close to free) programs for it. Like MythTV or Freevo for your DVR application. Other than the hardware itself, it can be pretty cheap to have a decent DVR system setup. With Linux available from the get-go it knocks out some required hacks and makes it easier to turn it into a web server. Why? Who cares! You *can*.

Provided this is true (doubtful) and that the Linux version takes full advantage of the hardware, a PS3 would make quite a badass file/web server/squidbox. And even at $400, it would be cheaper than an equally powerful PC.

I'm sure IBM loves the idea of that.

IBM has long since retreated from any real attempt at outer edge servers.  The closest they come is ASP/SSP.

Now, Dell on the other hand...

I think he was referring to thier processors eating up intel/amd marketspace/mindspace.

As to the ongoing linux debate I would like to interject two additional points.

1.  The cost to run a legitimate legal windows box with all the tools you want (cd burning, photo editing, word processing, etc..) is actually REALLY FUCKING EXPENSIVE.  Like at or above $1000 depending on the quality of the software you buy.  Linux is very close to offering similar or better functionality in all those areas included with the default distro.  The fact that almost no one actually pays these fees is besides the point, if given the option I'm guessing people would rather not have to pirate the stuff.

2.  From the hobbyist pov there are just a lot more cooler things you can do with linux than with MS simply because the source code to most of the point 1 features is available for tweaking.  This isn't going to get you on Granny's desktop but it gets you talked about in tech circles.

But people know how to use Windows shit. They don't want to struggle through all the bullshit that is Linux. Yes, for destop users Linux is bullshit.

Only if you decide to buy all that crap from MS.  And I don't mean pirate - there are open source initiatives for the Win platform, as well as shareware/freeware tools available for use.  Beyond that, a lot of stuff that's on Linux is in C (edit: or Java), which open source groups often make available as Win ports.  Looking at the items you mention, I have a half dozen CD burners, all free.  For photo editing I mainly use Photoshop and Paint.  I'm no artist, so they cover 90% of what I would want to do (cut, paste, crop, touchup).  There are open source tools available to do more interesting things, like alpha blending.  For word processing, Rich Text is available for free in WordPad (ships with Windows), which lets you do font changes (weight, size, style), bulleting, indenting, etc.  Sure you can pay $300 for an Office suite, but if you really want all the features Office provides, you won't find them in Open Source on Linux anyway.

Oh, and even as a dev, I don't need to pay for Visual Studio.  The .NET SDK is available for free, which includes a command line compiler.  It's even possible to write a program that will compile solutions for you and present bugs in a more readable format in about 20 lines of code.  Well, ok, it's a bit more than that if you built it ouside VS.NET, since VS can do a lot for you with the drag-and-drop interface.  But if that bothers you too much, there are open source communities that have multiple versions of that kind of an app already.

So yes, if you want to have the most feature-rich applications you can possibly find to do word processing, you will pay out the ass for it.  Guess what?  If you buy the Java equivalent of those apps, you will pay out the ass too.

Sharpdevelop (http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/)

Gamespot also has an article (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/09/news_6127219.html) on the HDD coming with Linux preinstalled.

I think it would be the supreme irony if PS3 were able to run Windows, while the 360 could not.  It also sounds like Sony is trying to slam Nintendo and MS with export laws by getting consoles reclassed.

Linux on a PS3 is pointless.

Not if MGS4 uses it on a computer screne, a la MGS2

And actually very few credible people have argued otherwise. It still puts Win32 os'es to shame in it's flexibility and hardware utilization for those who want to do something outside of what a stock GUI on a shitty command line can do.

Like, install with a minimum of fuss, on a wide variety of hardware, have access to a wide variety of popular entertainment and productivity titles, with a interface simple enough that the average Homo Sapien can figure out how to find and run programs?

Linux does a lot of things well.  I use it on one of my machines here at home, which mostly sits there and runs apache and a bunch of other servers, acts as a SMB server for my various windows machines, etc.  It's a great development platform, as far as having lots of useful tools for writing code in a vast multitude of languages, from HTML to SNOBOL.  If you like being able to tweak and fine-tune everything about your system, from the GUI to the OS kernal, again, Linux is great.

Linux is NOT great OS choice if you want to play MMOs, or, really, any other popular games.  I think Quake 3: Arena was the only reasonably popular title I've ever seen released for linux. (This is actually the version I own, someone picked it up at for a dollar somewhere and gave it to me.)

Linux on the PS3 is a non-issue.  Heck, I'm sure there'll be a group that is disappointed if it IS on the PS3, 'cause now what will they do with all the time they'd been planning to spend on porting it?

Alkiera

NWN had a Linux version, IIRC. So two reasonably popular titles.

Linux + MythTV + whatever other free media software exists for Linux on a PS3 + HD marketed as a media center is not pointless.

Hell, the X360 apparently will not work as a media center as such, but as a client to a XP Media Center PC. How meh is that?

For Bill Gates? Super Duper Not Meh.

For the rest of us who would have to pay for 2 machines to do what 1 should? Much meh.

Useful applications on the PS3 that happen to run on Linux are not pointless.  To that end, if it works, the underlying software is irrelevant.  This is name-dropping.  IBM loves the Linux these days, and that is probably rubbing off on Sony.