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Sony questions MS' motives should it join Folding@Home project

Posted May 21, 2007 at 8:04AM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: PS3, Xbox 360 Tags: Folding@Home, Jack Tretton, Microsoft, Peter Moore, Sony, Stanford University

Jack Tretton questions MS' motives on joining Folding@Home - Image 1

Can the Xbox 360 outperform the PlayStation 3 (PS3) when it comes to Folding@Home? We don't know for certain yet as Microsoft is yet to jump in, so to speak, but Sony Computer Entertainment America's Jack Tretton is questioning Microsoft's motives and mentioned that he'd be very disappointed if they are just seeking out good PR.

Tretton added that if big MS is indeed just trying to create a good image for itself then that is a rather shallow reasoning. And he suggested that MS might be doing this only because Sony is doing it. Tretton explained:

I think to look at it as a marketing platform is something that a company certainly wouldn't want to do. I'm certainly not insinuating that's Microsoft's motivation, but I'm not even sure how relevant it is to what we're doing. Would they be even having this conversation if we weren't doing it? I don't know.

More interestingly, Tretton went on to question as well the processing abilities of the 360 and doubts if it is capable to take part in such project. The official claimed that Stanford University is not even sure if Microsoft will be able to help them in this endeavor. According to Tretton:

I would guess that the medical community would take help from anywhere they could get it, but the commentary that I heard is that Stanford isn't sure that would help them very much. Which is odd to me because if it helped at all, it seems like they would welcome it with open arms.

It should be remembered that earlier this month, Peter Moore suggested that Microsoft is willing to join the project provided that they can "truly believe that they can in some way marshal the resources of a much larger installed base of Xbox 360 owners." In the end, Tretton lamented that he just wished MS is not trying to milk the medical community:

It's really ugly territory to get into, but let's take fighting a disease and see if we can get some credit for that. It's not a cool game to play one way or the other so I don't want to even give the impression that that's our motivation, and I'd be very disappointed if they're looking for PR value or to try to suck off some of the goodwill that we're doing.

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Ok first off this was posted like 3 weeks ago. It was an article from a magazine were the interviewer was drilling him about folding@home. He didn't just go out and say hey MS is trying for PR. The guy asked him if they thought it was a PR move. I will find the link to the full on interview and not the one with the spin put on it by Games Industry.

# Just my own opinions — Guest 2007-05-21 09:14

He says he isn't insinuating that Microsoft is just in it for publicity. But isn't that what he just did?

And who really believes that Sony isn't supporting Folding@Home partly because it's good PR? Of course, like Tretton here, I'm not insinuating anything...

Goodness. Yet another Sony executive thinks hypocrisy, mud-slinging, and self-contradiction is the way to sell the PS3.

# **** — Guest 2007-05-21 09:22

QJ.net trolls its own site by making up the news. You guys read waaaaaaaaaaaay too much into what he said. Have you guys even bothered to link to why there is no Folding@Home on the XBox 360? Take a look:

=============================

Earlier this year, Sony and Stanford University teamed up to release a Folding@Home client for the PS3. Part marketing, part philanthropy, they've managed to increase the overall processing power of the F@H project by three-fold. Xbox 360 fanboys have been clamoring for a F@H client for the Xbox 360, wanting to put it up against the PS3 in a fight to the death.

In a recent interview with Dean Takahashi, Peter Moore stated that Microsoft has been exploring the idea, with encouragement from Bill Gates. Presumably Gates, being the philanthropist he is, would love the opportunity to leverage the worldwide base of 10M+ Xbox 360s and help solve some problem of a global scale. So why hasn't Microsoft rushed to bring a 360 client to the marketplace? Two words: fatal flaw.

The design and construction of the Xbox 360 CPU, GPU, and motherboard cause the board to warp under normal operation conditions. When the board warps, the critical solder joints between the CPU/GPU and the motherboard may fail, resulting in the infamous red ring of death.

If Microsoft releases a F@H client for the 360, they could be facing a financial and public relations nightmare. The F@H client uses 100% of the CPU power, and if possible, 100% of the GPU power of the device while running. This generates tremendous amounts of heat, which places components under high stresses. It's a worst case scenario for hardware designers.

http://n4g.com/xbox360/News-39501.aspx

=====================================

Of course, blogging that would be anti M$ instead of anti-Sony, right? I doubt you guys make a post about it rather than upset boss-man Gates.

# vega480 — Guest 2007-05-21 09:31

i think they should do it, that would be a good way to find all the faulty 360s out there, i would never run it on my 360, but did have it run on my ps3 for about a month straight

# OMG That's Too Funny!!!! — Jin Wu 2007-05-21 10:11

I can't stop laughing long enough to type!!!

# well — Guest 2007-05-21 10:13

He sounds annoyed/angry/worried/upset.

# okay — Guest 2007-05-21 10:13

Please refer to our Via link. That's our source. Thank you...

# ???? — Guest 2007-05-21 10:17

But didn't we already agreed in earlier posts, that if in fact the x360 were to run folding@home it would overheat way too much and possibly lower its life expectancy, not trying to bash on anyone, I got a 360 and I love it to death but... It does overheat wayyy too much by simply watchin a 30 min show over extender. I can't imagine leaving it on for long periods of time.

# Go — Aces 2007-05-21 10:21

I would love it if Microsoft releases Folding@Home for the 360. I actually think it's a great help for people who suffer from incurable diseases. I can bet that Sony fanboys are going to come in going, "OMG NO!!!!1!one! XBOT 1.4 CANT RUN IT!!! CELL FTW!!1!" Look, this is for research and helping people. I would love to run my 360 for a long time. It has never crapped out on me...ever. Please Microsoft, let Folding@Home go to the 360.

# vega480 and complete rubbish — Guest 2007-05-21 10:56

Why do idiots always come up with this 360 faulty nonsense and then claim to actually own one?, now Duhhhh if I believed any of this crap would I have kept my 360 NO so it seems strange you like to spread rubbish and then contradict yourself by saying you still have a 360 and yet you believe what you read on the internet, FOOL.

# a lot of XBOX 360 system will get the 3RL on this! — Guest 2007-05-21 10:57

its good if Microsoft will play a part ing folding@home. But the question is if XBOX 360 can handle it without having a 3RL? when did a next gen system use a towel just to cool down their system? Yes, only XBOX owners do that. Make Microsoft fix 3RL first, before making their system keep up a notch.

# The 360 that overheats, usually PS3 owner but I havent a clue why they say it still. — Guest 2007-05-21 11:03

Yes you are right only people who claim their 360 has died etc are 99.99% on the internet and yet all the people in my area who have next gen have the 360 and have had no problems.

So in real life no problems with the 360, but in the cyberworld claims from people who actually make out for some weird reason they had one or even worse still have one and make out they overheat etc(AND HAVE NOT SOLD IT???), very strange on the net..

# all i got to say is — darkgeekrocker 2007-05-21 11:19

let the 360 have F@H...i wather have actions prove whats true than twisted words...btw so far it seems that stupidity in gamers (360 + PS3 fans) is rising...i blame halo, gta, and God of War... sadly the ps3 and 360 fans bash at the Wii...yet its rare to see Wii fans bash...course the Wii is like .75 next gen...only graphics dont make it that 1.00 we all want

# wtf — Guest 2007-05-21 11:26

what are you talking about? using a towel to cool down your console - how the f*** do u do that - u'r probably the only idiot who does that.

btw: i had the 3 Red Lights on my Dec 05 launch console - on my 2nd X360 now + its been running perfectly [no crashes, freezes, overheats or scratching]

1 more thing - XBLive pwns PSN

# No i'm not! — Guest 2007-05-21 11:46

I read it in one of the forums of XBOX 360 owners. The thread talks about how to prevent a 3RL. And one of those is putting a towel around their XBOX 360, directing a electric fan in front of it, or increasing their air condition. I'm not only talking about XBOX 360 owners here in the US or Europe. What i'm talking about our owners around the Globe, and thats include owners in Asia especially country that is hot and humid because the moisture built up in the 360, so thats why they put a towel around it.....stupid. It didn't came out from me....it came from a XBOX 360 owner.

# lol — Guest 2007-05-21 11:50

I say bring it on M$ i know Mr.Gates loves to help cancer and HIV diseases, O WAIT u cant ur xbox360 is console flaw

# Not cooling... — Guest 2007-05-21 11:55

The "towel trick" is not to cool the console, it's to excessively overheat the console so the wires that causes the problem "bends/melts/etc" back into shape, at least that what it's suppose to do.

Rather than say "we could do it if we want," why doesn't MS just f***** do it.

# Just to reinforce where his facts are coming from. — Guest 2007-05-21 11:56

The added heat allows the balls of the chips to resolder themselves to the sockets. It's an old PC trick to get the processor of a soldered 386 out of its seat - only in reverse.

Link: http://www.qj.net/Banishing-red-lights-of-doom-Re-balling-or-towel-trick-/pg/49/aid/79962

# To Gamertag — Guest 2007-05-21 12:24

What's sad is that the Red Lights are still appearing, even on Elites (yeah look on the net for pictures, I ain't doing the homework for you). All my family have 360s, and two of the three 360s are broken...and they have...guess what? The Red Lights!!! Oh yeah and they are NOT launch units, one of them was manufactured this March, the other one December 2006. Oh yeah the one you replied to did not mention Xbox Live at all, shows how low you are for a mere console. Peter Moore...all he does is bash the competition...which is sad because if he has the time to bash the others, that time would have been spent on fixing what's causing the Red Lights.

PS: Oh yeah...maybe (note the word MAYBE) Microsoft should stay out of the F@H project. Imagine thousands of Red Light-affected consoles...I would see a big lawsuit on the horizon much like people did when the PS2 had the Disc Read Errors. Those were my two cents!

# now now — comedy 2007-05-21 12:38

why would ms joining f@h be a bad thing? in what sense?

the only problem possible is that maybe to avoid possible overheating issues the 360 would run at a lower speeds. this would probably mean that they (stanford) can't be bothered to spend the time creating a bespoke program which runs best on x360 and which ticks every single box microsoft's high-quality xboxlive requirements need just so that they can get a so-so performance boost.

mind you, even if x360 managed to do half (and that's running at low power mind you) of what ps3 did there are like 11 million of them - that's a hell of a lot more than 1.5 million ps3's ... even if they do run at different speeds.

make love not war... why can't we all enjoy folding together?

personally i feel sad that so many people have been inconvenienced by those 3RL, but you get your box replaced if it's within warranty, so it's just a bit of time lost. my ps3 only runs bluray in black and white due to my crummy telly... :(

# . — Guest 2007-05-21 12:48

Yeah right Sony...

"I think to look at it as a marketing platform is something that a company certainly wouldn't want to do. I'm certainly not insinuating that's Microsoft's motivation, but I'm not even sure how relevant it is to what we're doing. Would they be even having this conversation if we weren't doing it? I don't know."

Xbox Live? Wii remote control? Xbox HDD? Oh please! Stop it Sony, I can't breath! I'm laughing too much!

# the real reason — Guest 2007-05-21 13:34

the real reason is because M$ knows that if they do put folding on the 360 that would mean more over heading broken machine is just that they won't tell you the truth. because that doesn't benefit them. they would loose so much money if they do that.

# lol — Guest 2007-05-21 13:36

"I think to look at it as a marketing platform is something that a company certainly wouldn't want to do. I'm certainly not insinuating that's Microsoft's motivation, but I'm not even sure how relevant it is to what we're doing. Would they be even having this conversation if we weren't doing it? I don't know."

DIRECT TRANSLATION:

"I'm not trying to suggest Microsoft is trying to copy us, BUT THEY ARE. We don't have anything good but F@H so why can't MS ***** off. I'm a whiney little *****."

# Sadly they bash the wii... — Guest 2007-05-21 14:04

I like how you say you are upset they bash the wii then you say its only .75 next gen... kinda bashing a NEXT GEN console aren't you? I personally (and the over 7 million sold) believe that graphics aren't the only thing that make games, and play my Wii much more than my 360 which does have better graphics. I personally believe the Wii is as advanced if not more than the 360 and PS3, as it is a completely new way to game instead of the same style. I didn't mean to bash any consoles so if anyone is offended I'm terribily sorry.

# microsoft make me laugh !!!!!!! — Guest 2007-05-21 15:58

This is getting stupid. the simple fact is if sony werent involved in f@h microsoft wouldnt give a F**K about it, they would have never even thought of getting involved with the project but they c sony involved and c it as an opportunity to show everyone that the 360 can do what the ps3 can do even though it cant !. ova the past year and a half or so ive seen and heard microsoft and in particular peter moore do nothin but contradict themselves ova what is and isnt important 4 the nexgen. all microsofts moves ova the past year and a half have done is proven that sony made the right choices concerning the ps3, in particular blu ray, hdmi wifi, 1080p, 60gb hdd.

# And Sony is a fat lazy asswipe of a Company — Guest 2007-05-21 16:45

QJ did a story about these impostors about 1/2 a year ago, they are really marketing suck holes employed by a clearly scared Sony.

How very sad that Sony have to stoop so very low. ROFL

MeMyselfandI isn't a real gamer just a marketing butt hole puppet, LOL...

# Global Warming... — Guest 2007-05-21 21:13

We can't have xbox 360s running all night, and day for this Folding at Home project.. as it would contribute to Global Warming, and lead to the end of the Earth...

# yes. — Guest 2007-05-21 22:54

yes i would trust the articles from the major gaming sites, yes i do own a 360. yes there does seem to be a link between what people are saying and the gaming sites and my own experiences.

And I don't own a ps3.

If you don't believe me you'll just have to take my word on it

# so — Guest 2007-05-22 00:09

so what microsoft is class, sony is ***** ha ha LOL

# optimistically — Guest 2007-05-22 04:54

yes i think MS will discourage xbox 360 Folding as of now because of the rising Failure rate of roughly 3-5 percent of over 10 million xbox 360 out there.

majority of the failures has been overheat, chips popping out of the mobo. and i doubt using towels will help. my ps3 is too darn hot too but i think ps3 design is much more ventilated than of 360. and there are also cheap cooling solutions if you want to use your ps3 more than the gaming usual hours for folding. maybe xbox 360 revision 2 can solve the RROD issues and hopefully also help Folding. and yes we Sony ps3 users will welcome you with open arms, the more folding the better the results.

# wii next gen? — Guest 2007-05-22 06:40

They should re-release the NES with the Powerglove and call it next-gen.

# PS3>x*****s360 — Guest 2007-05-22 09:50

The japanese at Sony are smarter then Americans at MS. That's why the xbox360 is a piece of junk. I bet if you compared IQ between the two groups you'd see the differences. MS is a joke and an evil empire trying to take over everything just because their OS is on everyones computer. They are even trying to get rid of Open Source (LINUX) because their mansions dont have enough cars parked in it.

# He's right — Guest 2007-05-22 10:03

... and besides that, why didn't the x360 get folding before the Ps3 did if it is such a powerful console and it's on the market a year longer? Because the Ps3 is simply more powerfull and nobody at stanford universitiy actually needs X360 in this project.

Now Microsoft has a complex when they actually see how much is the Ps3 helping in folding@home so they must join also. Retarded...

# Oh please — Guest 2007-05-22 12:24

"why didn't the x360 get folding before the Ps3 did if it is such a powerful console"

They chose the PS3 due to the Cell processor, which offers about twice the arithmetic performance compared to the 360's CPU. They would have known this LONG before the consoles were launch, so of course the PS3 would be the likely choice. Why is that difficult to understand?

"and nobody at stanford universitiy actually needs X360 in this project."

Don't be dumb please. Even at half the floating-point power of Cell, the number of 360s out there would make it VERY valuable for Folding. And since ATI GPUs offer at least twice the performance of Cell for Folding (albeit less flexible), they could use the ATI GPU in the 360 instead of Xenon.

But even then, there are many other factors to consider. They are not game developers, so if they want Folding on the 360, they would need permission from MS, they would need to BUY devkits, they would need to work with MS to get it working on Live, etc. It's not easy and may not be worth the cost and effort.

"Now Microsoft has a complex when they actually see how much is the Ps3 helping in folding@home so they must join also"

Really, show us where MS said they 'must join'. Provide the link or stfu...please. ;)

# indeed — Guest 2007-05-22 13:53

of course the users will be in open arms, but microsoft are just looking for a quick answer for the ***** theyve been doing, what about people that have brought second hand not know, i say ***** you microsoft you cheap attempt wont win no one over

# Damn Right — Guest 2007-05-22 14:21

Microsoft are lazy and inexperience at decision making for consoles.

Sony FTW

# Damn Right as well — Guest 2007-05-22 14:28

The dumbness is all over XBOX. Leave technology to the JAPS.

Microsoft is software mainly

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