[ Thanks to Jim
Lynch for this link. ]
“Frankly, this was a selfish move on Sony’s part, and a
big hit to low-cost supercomputing.“It’s easy to assume that the only users affected by Sony’s
decision are the ever-present tinkerers who try (and typically
succeed) to install Linux on every new device that comes out.
Hence, Linux on iPhone. It’s a challenge that seems to range from
ardent hobby to mild obsession.“In the case of the PS3, however, the benefits of Linux on the
CellBE-processor device were immediate. In 2007, the researchers at
NorthCarolina State University clustered eight PS3 machines that
ran Fedora Core 5 Linux (ppc64). That same year a University of
Massachusetts team found that putting together an eight-node PS3
cluster together (for a cost of about US$4000) would perform with
the same processing power as a 200-processor supercomputer.”