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Linux to frag Sony and PS3?

Posted May 31, 2007 at 4:38PM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: PS3 Tags: Helios Software, Ken Kutaragi, Linux, Sony, Yellow Dog Linux

Thanks to HELIOS Software and its modified Yellow Dog Linux, it's now possible to use the PS3 as a server. For the price of US$600, small enterprises can now avail of a server with powerful processors and capable HD space just by downloading free software.

Sounds good, right? Not for Sony. It's already a commonly known fact that Sony is losing money for every unit sold. What's keeping them in the fight is the income they can get from games purchased for the PlayStation 3.

Imagine: 1 million PS3 units are being used as servers. That much units would lose profitability because companies using them are not likely to buy games; all the while, Sony loses US$ 250 for every one of those units sold. Count 'em all: US$ 250 million in total.

More PS3s not used for gaming purposes would also put third-party publishers in a bind. If Sony cannot determine how many PS3s are being used as servers, publishers would think twice before investing US$ 20 million in a game that will be released on a platform which installed user-base is uncertain.

People used to wonder what Ken Kutaragi meant back then when he said the PS3 is not just a gaming console. Looks like we've found our answer right here. The PS3 is also a good server machine.

Via Lazy Gamer

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sony is a huge company. they don't only sell the playstation which so many people think. sure, they are loosing money on the ps3 now, but they make profit from all the mp3 players, dvd players, home thetre systems, mobile phones, lcd/plasma tv's and who knows what else. have you heard the people that say...

"geez, the ps3 has failed and sony is going to die." etc.

when the production costs for the ps3 begin and when hardware will become cheaper, over the 10 years the ps3 will gain profit. in 10 years there will be many many games for the ps3. microsoft's hasn't made any profit from it's console.

it is bad news people are only buying the ps3 to use as a server, but there are alot more people with a ps3 for.

1.games.

2.hd movies.

3.games + movies + more.

i am a happy owner of sony's ps3, but consoels these days are becoming more than just a gaming console. they are now being used for home entertainment such for movies etc.

i just like to see consoles do 1 thing, play games. the extra stuff in the console is just a expensive bonus that people just don't need. that's what i like about xbox. they were smart and kept the prices down for the people who don't need the extras. and made some money on people who wanted to upgrade their console...

aergo, visa vee, concordantly. you know what, i have no idea what i'm talking about. i just thought it would make me sound cool.

# kid — Quixand 2007-05-31 18:25

stay in school

# This IS good for Sony — Guest 2007-05-31 18:39

The gamers will still buy the PS3 and all the people who buy a PS3 just to use it as a server is just icing on the cake, as soon as Sony starts turning a profit on the actual console instead of taking a loss.

# Article is bullocks... — Guest 2007-05-31 18:42

I think everyone would agree that the majority of the cost the PS3 right now is R&D cost. Over number of years over number of units sold, this cost eventually goes down to nothing, remaining the cost of the hardware itself. Just like the PS2 profiting at a price tag of $129.99, the same thing will happen to PS3 when more and more units get sold. It's not like Sony is going to lose $200 US for every unit over 10 years or even 2 to 3 years for that matter.

Basically, first year PS3 came out, say R&D cost $200 Million first year they sell 2 million units, so 200M/2M next year they sell 4M so $200M/6M. I'm sure everyone understands that. More units sold = Cheaper overall cost for the PS3 itself. I'm sure the Hardware itself cost next to nothing for Sony (Well maybe around $400US nothing)

# ummm — Guest 2007-05-31 18:43

NOBODY ever said they were losing 250 per unit. Maybe, MAYBE 150.. tops. We have all seen the breakdown. Sony isn't paying that much for the parts! If sony put out the numbers, it would be believable. For now, it's total crap for you guys to write this about them, trying to start more flamebait wars... Sony would be perfectly happy if comapnies were using the PS3 for servers, and anyone else expanding their installed base. The more they sell, the cheaper they can be made. etc etc...

Was this just a total commentary, btw? Or was there a point?

# to mcsiadf — Guest 2007-05-31 18:47

i fu-cked your mum last night.

and why do the advertising have a blank white box, shouldn't there be somthing in the box to advertise?

oh did i mention that i fu-cked your mum mcsiadf?

# think again — Guest 2007-05-31 18:51

The hardware in the production cost alone for the ps3 is close to $900US. That does not reflect research and development.

# bad news — Guest 2007-05-31 19:01

Servers need lots of RAM...the *****ty amount of RAM in a PS3 means don't make it a server. Servers require waaaaaay more RAM than personal computers...Cell Processor doesn't mean much without a good 4GB of RAM

# uh — Guest 2007-05-31 19:28

maybe if those third party publishers released the game on the ps3, the user base would be bigger? lp;

# to tim — Guest 2007-05-31 19:30

sounds like you need to get up to date on the news and you certainly dont know what your talking about!

Microsoft recently started making a profit on the Xbox 360 as the production costs went down.

# uh — Guest 2007-05-31 19:30

actually you can put in more RAM with the PS3's memory card slots, im not exactly sure how it works but with extra memory sticks there is something i know many linux and even windows operating systems can do that utilizes external memory to be used as RAM.

# Subject — Guest 2007-05-31 19:35

you are a spamming ret4rd

# Ummm no.... — Guest 2007-05-31 20:13

Unless you are going to site it, don't say they made profit. The "games division" is still way down.

You may be referring to an each console sale price in which they may be making a "per unit" profit. Their games division however, is still far in the red. They will turn a profit though. The problem is the first XBOX hurt MS. Given how much money they have though, it is a non-issue.

Ludi

# server wtf? — Guest 2007-05-31 21:17

Some of these stories make me laugh

The Cell processor is okay for PC tasks but nothing to write home about. It is no match for a proper x86 or amd64 architecture. Especially server hardware.

# actually — Guest 2007-05-31 23:09

gamers should not care if those companies are gaining a profit or losing money. just release those fun games and we're all gonna be happy. and warhawk now come in my list due to the bluetooth headset bundle. hehehe

# You are all naive schoolkids — Guest 2007-06-01 01:44

mcsiadf and SilentTweak are the only ones who seems to understand economics.

The rest of you can blow your mama's and sign on for benefits in another 5 years when you don't graduate.

Retards.

# Really, not a well-considered article — Guest 2007-06-01 04:29

The PS3 hasn't got enough memory to be a viable server platform. It'd be okay for pure computational work, but that's not a small enterprise server. If you really need a usable Unix server for $600, get a Mac Mini, with twice as much memory.

I can't imagine anyone getting a PS3 to use as a server. It's crazy talk; it hasn't got enough memory for serious database work, it'd be uncomfortable to try to run a real email or web server on it, and... Well, it's just crazy. Not everything that runs Linux is a server.

I'd be more worried about Sony losing money to people buying PS3s to use as centerpieces for their formal dining rooms, which I think will be noticably more common than people using them as small enterprise servers.

# hah — Guest 2007-06-01 04:30

Let me put this in English or common sense:

More PS3 consoles sold = more developers see how big the user base is and make exclusive PS3 games.

Might be a bad situation for Sony but who cares. There are rumors that Resident Evil 5 and Silent Hill 5 will be PS3 exclusive if the sales pick up. So hurry up and buy yourselves some servers so I can get my beautiful exclusive Resident Evil 5 please, thanks.

# .. — Guest 2007-06-01 05:19

Qj can we please get some sensible article writers. Because if this guy knew what he was talking about then he would know that console figures are everything. Many people check nextgenwars and VGCharts to check whether they should buy a new console and how each one is doing. If Sony manages to sell say a million consoles to industrys, then it is only going to look good on their firgures.

# IBM disagrees with you — Guest 2007-06-01 09:04

The Cell processor defeats x86 and leaves it for dead. As it was designed to.

# wow — Guest 2007-06-01 09:26

wow, a server w/ 256mb, oh noes, watch out, its gonna get you.

All tho the cell is power thats about it.

rsx = nothing for a server

ram = way too little for a server

heat = way too high for a server

1 harddrive bay = not enough for a server

When people say business server i image a server rack that has 8-32gb ram, quad + core, and gigabit network cards, all in clusters.

Not a ps3 box, 256mb ram, cell is good, network card is lacking and also lacks the ability to cluster, and the heat isn't reasonable.

OH MAN WATCH OUT, CRAZY LEET SERVERS.

Al tho when the cell chip comes out and cell mobo's come out i image server owners are going to take advantage of that, but not from the ps3.

# Nice2know that — Guest 2007-06-01 09:48

at least 1 person here is thinking the same as me...

The PS3 is absolutely useless as server!

If it had more thant 2GB ram then i would say... hmmm maybe... but with only 256MB it has not even enough ram to run Linux quite well!

# Guy at the top — Guest 2007-06-01 11:02

The huy who made the first comment here got it spot on.

PS3 aint only a gaming machine, Sony made it for exactly tht reason, so not every buyer that buys it is going to play games on it (or they may everynow and again as they choose) Saying Sony looses so much profit for every console sold is bull, they gain on every console sold, if they where loosing that much profit on each console, why would they bother going on?

As for people using it as a server, well seems like a waste to me, but if they want to spend that kind of money on one server let them do it, it's they're money and they're console to do as they wish - kinda like the people that smashed the things up online - Sony loose much money on every single person that did that? They loose profit on the ones people break because I'm pretty sure more people are breaking them than what people are using them as servers. So how much profit are Sony loosing there for everyone that doesnt get used but instead gets broken?

It's all just hot ar.

# Sorry... — Guest 2007-06-01 14:41

You brought good points, but none of them are related to what is being said here. Yes, as a server for extended use as a commercial server, it is quite useless. Don't go and run high traffic on a PS3, it's just plain stupid. Hence why your points are good there.

But, as an intranet server, something you'd use only INSIDE company and/or can be used by the employees of the said company so they can work from home without having external traffic, then the PS3 is quite good and cheap.

It is powerfull to run something as little as an intranet but wouldn't run something like a website generating a lot of hits by day. It cannot work as a big server, or as a multi-threading server (like running 3 different servers on it would be just stupid unless again, its internal a small business). But yeah, I think the PS3 could do pretty well for a small intranet server.

# More So On Servers and PS3 — Guest 2007-06-01 15:00

If you look around the net or Google. I'm sure you'll find the article about how Sony plans on putting the PS3 for corporate use. When it goes to a corporation I read that Sony will modify it to be (obviously) more corporate useable, which shouldn't be too hard for Sony to do.

Like everyone else here said, if you used it for a high traffic server, it'd be like the slowest server on the net, unless you find somehow to solder some more ram on to it. I guess you could always buy a few more PS3 and connect them together to make them run and render all in unison. But even 4 PS3s is only 1GB of usable ram. Maybe the Cell BD will process things so fast 1GB is enough?

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