iPhone Hacker Promising To Save Other OS Feature On PS3 [Geohot Looking "Into A Safe Way" Of Updating PS3 To Firmware 3.21 & Not Lose Other OS Functionality]

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As I mentioned yesterday, Sony is planning to release firmware 3.21 for the PS3 on April 1 and that update will be removing some of the current functionality. I should point out that the functionality that is being removed will most likely not be missed by many. However there are some that are rightfully up in arms and at least one person has stepped up and will be trying to keep the best of both worlds.

That person is famed iPhone hacker George Hotz, who is otherwise known as Geohot on the web. He has also, as of recently been working on a PS3 and trying to ‘jailbreak’ it. Well, that combined with this recent news seems to have spurred something because he has taken to his blog with a message.

“DO NOT UPDATE. When 3.21 comes out, I will look into a safe way of updating to retain OtherOS support, perhaps something like Hellcat’s Recovery Flasher.”

And taking a nice approach to this, Geohot also went on to state that “hacking isn’t about getting what you didn’t pay for, it’s about making sure you do get what you did” and compared this to Apple removing Safari from the iPhone.

“Imagine if an exploit were found in Safari on the iPhone, but instead of fixing it, Apple decides to pull web browsing altogether.”

Of course, he did point out that these companies may be in the legal right to do so, but sometimes there is more than legal. Well said, but to play devils advocate for a moment — Sony did state that you could choose not to update and retain the Other OS functionality. Then again, that would end up costing you things like network game play.

In short, if you are a PS3 owner that wants Other OS support, do not update until you get the go ahead from Geohot. Then, in the best case scenario you will retail that feature and also not lose anything moving forward. Sadly though, that means you will end up playing the always-be-wary-of-official-updates game like those that jailbreak the iPhone.