About a month ago, Sony released a firmware upgrade for their PSP portable gaming device, taking the basic system software of the machine from version 1.5 to version 2.0. The upgrade brought new features like a web browser and updates to video viewing and network performance, but the community of people writing their own programs for the PSP quickly figured out that the new version cut off their ability to run user-created, non-Sony-authorized software. Many in this community are writing more than games--the first way to access net content on the PSP was user-created--and they're working towards a goal of turning the powerful hardware of the PSP into a true open-ended portable IT platform. Warnings quickly went out in the blogosphere urging PSP owners to skip the upgrade, not only if they wanted to run such homebrew software but also as a form of protest against an apparent move by Sony to nip a burgeoning developer community in the bud (and, presumably, as a way to kill any trade of copied games).
Nothing is new about the philosophy of not upgrading to a new version of software as soon as it's released; for every Mac enthusiast that rushed to get the new operating system, Tiger, there were many more who chose to wait until these early adopters found and reported bugs. What happened this week in the Sony vs. developers saga is different. Today tech blog Gizmodo reports that French coders have created software to roll back the firmware on PSPs from version 2.0 to 1.5. This bit of Wayback Machine is intended for both PSP owners who made the "mistake" of upgrading and for new PSP buyers who find their devices pre-installed with the new firmware. If this hack catches on, or even if it doesn't, Sony will likely respond by requiring new PSP games to first check is the machine is running the new firmware. If it's not, the game won't run.
This back-and-forth between Sony and the developer community exemplifies some interwoven trends: an end-user backlash against intellectual property protection schemes seen as far too restrictive, the rise of those that want to author and share as much content as they consume, and the power of the Internet to connect sub-groups, disseminate information, and amplify the ability of any one rabble rouser to affect change. Taking the PSP example to an extreme, I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see wearable-implantable-holographic computers in 2020 running on Windows 3.1 or the same operating system as my favorite computer of all time, the Commodore 64.
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