ResearchLinux on the Sony PlayStation 3
One of the biggest points of commentary in Sony's launch of the PS3 console has been their decision to include the Linux operating system on the hard drive of the console itself. The wicked fast, high-performance operating system, darling of the super-computer world and the Internet server market, promises to give Sony's flagship product a swift boost. But there are many reasons why they have made this original decision.
Plain old money, for starters. Linux is released under the Free Software Foundation's General Public License, so it's cost is effectively zero. But that's just on the cost of ownership; on the sales side, having any operating system at all qualifies the unit as being a computer instead of an entertainment device, and is thus subject to lower taxes in the European Union. Since their chief competitor Microsoft is already selling XBoxes at a loss just to stay in the market, Sony is fighting back with this shrewd decision. Where Microsoft has to develop their own operating system in-house and count on their deep pockets to absorb the loss, Sony simply found the public's operating system developed already for them for free and snapped it up.
Performance, for another. Linux runs most of the Internet and corners the scientific super-computer market; it's superiority for high-performance computing in scientific and military applications the world over has been a chief factor in keeping it free. Sony CEO Ken Kutaragi has stated that between the heavy-duty hardware and the high-performance operating system, the PlayStation portable will practically be a super-computer right in the living room. So far, photo and video editing have been put forth as applications to run on the system, which would certainly fit in well with Sony's other media entertainment departments. TiVo, the home TV entertainment system, has long run Linux for similar reasons. So Sony's line of reasoning might be: "You can already watch movies on DVD on a PlayStation; why not make them too?"
Development for another. A gaming console isn't much good without games to run on it, and history has shown that no commercial software company can possibly hire enough keyboard-pounders to compete with the world-wide development efforts that go into Free Software. As Eric S. Raymond pointed out in his landmark book "The Cathedral and the Bazaar", there's just no way to hire the kind of talent you can get from three coders in France, two in Germany, one in Africa, and two in the US all working together over the Internet to produce a program for free just because they believe in their project and nobody else is doing it. While commercial gaming companies are still ahead and will always be the preferred provider of blockbuster titles, the global marketplace is showing that independent developments occasionally comes out of left field with something innovative that catches on. Kind of like with the "indy" scene in films; you have run-of-the-mill hobby productions, and then every now and then you get "Clerks".
Microsoft has been in a bit of a bind in this situation. When your whole business plan revolves around closed development, you have no choice but to pay for every byte of software you run. So they have tried to mitigate this effect by launching their own XNA open-development platform. But is it too little, too late? And will Linux really make the difference that Sony is hoping for? It will be interesting to see the outcome, but market analysts are already forecasting a landslide for the PlayStation 3.