Holding their ground on the PlayStation 3 update debate, hackers finally came up with a workaround for firmware v3.21. Sony’s decision to remove support for installing other operating systems on PS3 consoles with their latest firmware update has been widely criticized, and left its users with the dilemma, update and lose this great feature or refuse the security updates and be unable to use PlayStation network (and hence online games).
George Hotz a.k.a GeoHot, promised just a few days ago that he would provide the Custom FirmWare for PlayStation 3 users who wishes to keep on using Linux flavours on their consoles with the existing ‘Install Other OS’ option. He pleaded for keeping the feature as is, and condemned such a move by Sony; also stating that he would find some method to safely update the firmware without loosing any of the existing features, if Sony sticks to their decision.
Seems like he proved yet again what he is capable of, demonstrating on a PS3 system. The custom firmware GeoHot labeled to be v3.21oo, runs flawlessly on a PlayStation 3 system, showing “System Software Version 3.21” as well as being able to boot into a Linux environment without a hitch. The custom firmware is only for the users running on v3.15 or prior firmware, and those who already updated their PS3 with Sony’s v3.21 firmware are out of luck.
In his blog, GeoHot takes on Sony saying, all they are doing is to turn their 100000 legit customers into hackers. He also expresses humorously that if he was someone who monetizes through his blog, he might have end up thanking Sony for taking this step, which increased the viewer traffic by 20 times. Though the CFW is already out to the mass, Sony is still completely silent regarding this whole event.