Zalister, that's old news and your interpretation of it is what Sony intended.

You might want to read the other thread here

http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=46807

if you haven't already to learn about the vulnerabilties opened by the uninstaller, the fact that the exchanged CDs contain DRM as well etc.

I think Sony really crossed the line and their further reactions made it pretty clear that they do not regret what they did, just the PR-problem.

And while this opens an even vaster, unrelated debate, I don't think that the boycott of a business involved in unlawful action can be a Bad Thing just because people might lose their jobs as a consequence.

Productivity having progressed like it did, it is simply no longer required that everybody works fulltime to produce all the necessary goods. As the vast majority of economies are still struggling to deal with that in an appropriate way, there is the misconception that getting fired is a Bad Thing. It might be perceived that way by the individual in question, but could happen for all sorts of reasons anyway.

Two things, one, thanks I hadn't seen the corelary, and that is dumb of sony to do that.

Second, government was created for the people, not the other way around. If you lose focus of the individual, then I think you've lost the point entirely. Staving off a boycott to consider the individuals who could lose their jobs is perfectly legitimate. Granted, they could lose their jobs for a plethora of reasons, but how does that give us the right to add one more?

But, and hear me out on this, it looks to me like Sony has simply put out a bad product. And, quite frankly, you can't blame me for putting the designer of the pinto out of work (just didn't like that car.) I think if my company was pulling that kind of crap I'd take it as sign of the times and move on by myself.

But, I'm yet to read that second article. So I'll have to wait until after that to comment on which of these two scenarios I think it is.

A few things, then I don't think I'll be posting much more on this debate.

One, I sat and thought about it for a while and decided I still think class action lawsuits and media blitzes (i.e. things that affect the mood of the population in general) are more effective than a boycott. But I wouldn't interfere with someone else's right to do it (I don't know everything after all.)

Second, that only leaves my ethical question on whether or not it's right to boycott. Honestly I'm having a hard time deciding. I do disagree with creating situations in which regular employee's will more likely be punished than the people actually responsible. But when that situation arises is hard to define. I would take the time to try and figure it out but two things stop me from doing this. One, I just don't have the resources to generate that kind of report. Two, this forum isn't really meant for philosophical treaties.

Lastly, I just wanted to reiterate (for the millionth time, and not because anyone has called me on this, but because I just don't want anyone to get the wrong impression.) I don't like root kits, shame on Sony.

But in the end I don't think a boycott will be effectual, and since more effective things are already in the works I don't feel guilty buying a PS3, thus my vote in the poll still goes to buying all three (I knew I could put this back on subject eventually :). )

And I think I will exit this whole messy debate at this point.

How is that possible? How can you hurt a company (IE, reduce its income) and not have it trickle down to the employees?

But like Arctic says, it's just a matter of not spending money which helps an "enemy" make profit. Each person defines what that means for himself. I won't spend money for products or at stores which have anti-American and/or anti-rights policies. It can be effective too; I've been part of two semi-organized boycotts, and in both cases the companies buckled. One of the companies is still in chapter 13.

Sorry, that means employees lost their jobs. But guess what, I spent that money elsewhere. Those companies had to hire more employees. In the end, it's a net effect.

i thought people were going to be comparing consoles in here, not disrepeting sony.

Sony's business practices have a large say in weather or not some people will buy thier console.

regardless... COMPARE THE SYSTEMS ALREADY!!

That might be a setting that could be checked (can't say for sure -- it's not in UBB.x or UBB Classic). So it takes a comment to kick the thread back up.

They're all the same. Buy one.

I think that Nintendo has finally lost it! I don't think I'd ever get used to a motion-sesitive controller. Do you realize how much I move my controller around when it's not motion-sensitive? As far as the XBox/PS3 is concerned, I can hardly wait for HALO3 to come out, so I'm already sold, although I haven't purcahsed the box yet. I never have been a fan of the Sony consoles. That's just my opinion.

Side note: And what is up with PSP movies? Why would you buy two formats of a movie (DVD & PSP)? If you want to watch a movie on the go, you'd be better off buying a nice portable DVD player and saving money in the long run on the movies.

Movies? On the go I would enjoy watching them on my 17" PowerBook. But I’m bothered by the zone protection system (whatever you call it) that Apple has been compelled to install. I think the DVD players in Macs should be zone free!

– ArcticStones

Wait wait wait... So you go out of your way to tell us all to start comparing the systems, and the first thing you say is you don't like Nintendo's new controller. You realize that without that little tid-bit CAlvarex might as well be right. The only thing that makes the Xbox360 and PS3 different are a few proprietary titles (like Halo and Final Fantasy).

If you want to compare systems and not games, I might suggest giving that controller a second look.

Motion sensing is the future! Why would you want to control your character by pushing buttons when you can put a few sensors on your body and just control them by moving in a natural manner?

Taking a boxing game on the Revolution for example. Put a controller in each hand and you can measure punch direction and velocity. Create a simple helmet with some sensors and you can dodge and weave. Put some buzzers in your controllers and helmet, now you can feel when you hit them and when you are tagged! And the best part is that you don't have to learn complex button schemes, you just do what would come naturally in a fight (and hope that naturally doesn't suck...)

There are a million possibilities for that thing, and that's why I would buy a revolution even without any killer apps.

For anyone who wanted to vote on this, and didn't have the chance yet, I wanted to bump this up just once (sorry). It closes in three days.