[Sussex] PS3 Linux ?

[Paul Tansom]

On Tue, 2005-06-28 at 10:16 +0100, Gareth Ablett wrote:
>  From: Paul Tansom [mailto:paul at aptanet.com]
>  Subject: Re: [Sussex] PS3 Linux ?
> > 
> > On Sat, 2005-06-25 at 14:49 +0100, Andrew Guard wrote:
> > > Well it starting to look like PS3 is going to be a Linux box but
> Sony
> > > isn't closing any doors for Mac or Windows.
> > >
> > > It is interesting to hear they think PS3 will be us not just for
> games but
> > > all things like HDTV editing system.
> > >
> > > http://ps3.ign.com/articles/624/624046p1.html
> > >
> > > I would love to order one these, I am just not that rich so will
> have wait
> > > another year.
> > >
> > > http://ps3.ign.com/articles/628/628048p1.html
> > 
> > Personally I'd be surprised to see Windows or Mac OS on the PS3.
> > Microsoft is unlikely to port Windows across and give the
> competition's
> > console a feature not on their own, and Apple are hardly likely to
> port
> > Mac OS onto another processor and hardware that is cheaper than their
> > own.
> > 
> Equally Microsoft would jump at the chance of offering an operating
> system sub par to the one featured in their own games console. Think
> about it control over what your competitor can do.
> In the same note I don't think sony would take this route and we may see
> some interesting games ported to native linux, on the other hand I don't
> like our chances.

The way I read that was in terms of Windows or Mac OS as guest operating
systems on the PS3, not the one used to run the games. Anyone that uses
a stock OS on a console is sacrificing a good deal of performance. Linux
is a clear winner as a guest OS given that a) Sony use it themselves,
and b) it is open source so they can do the work (well, already have
because they need to use it!) so there is not cost involved (external to
the company).

So Microsoft would have nothing to gain from porting Windows, it would
be a marginal OS on the competitions hardware with no application
support. The same goes for Apple, particularly now they are heading into
Intel territory, although it would likely be easier for them to port
across!

As for porting games to Linux, I doubt the PS3 will help here because
anything on the PS3 will rely (as I would speculate) on the custom
hardware and the PS3 native OS. Games porting to Linux would likely be
more reliant on Windows versions, and Apple versions would be an
encouraging sign (again, particularly now they are heading Intel)
because of the similarity under the covers (a game is less likely to tie
itself to the Mac GUI).

As an aside, the console most open to third party development was/is the
Sega Dreamcast, and the OS for that was developed by Microsoft (and CE
based iirc). The Playstation 2 does pretty well, but you still (afaik)
have issues with the disks - I don't think you could use a burnt CD in a
PS2 (without chipping). Sadly I don't have one so I don't know a huge
amount about them. It was on my wish list, but before I could afford one
Microsoft gave me a XBox (erm, /me hangs his head in shame, this was a
competition related to being part of the Microsoft Partner Program -
ook!). Still, it costs them per unit sold, and this one cost 'em even
more as I didn't pay for it - I've also not purchase any new full price
games for it, so they're making nowt out of me ;)

-- 
Paul Tansom | Aptanet Ltd. | http://www.aptanet.com/