PS3 Informer

Sony and Linux Battle Microsoft in OS War?

Our friends at the Sony Protection Group have posed an interesting question. Just why did Microsoft enter into the gaming industry? Revenues are obvious, but it's not always just about filling your coffers. Much of the market manoeuvres we have been witnessing are also strategic, and in the same vein as our console wars theme, SPG muses over a potential operating system shift initiated by Sony's support for Linux.

We at PS3Informer feel that this opinion may have some credibility as Sony have long looked for a strong OS to underpin. Why not Linux? With a commercial giant such as Sony behind it, we could well see a surge in the mass consumer take up of Linux, with it finally stepping out of its geek surroundings.

Today, I was thinking about Sony and Linux, and what might have made Microsoft enter into the gaming industry. Ever since Playstation 2, Sony has offered the customer the ability to install Linux on their system and they’ve offered the same abilities on the Playstation 3. I wondered that maybe there was a real reason behind it. Could Sony be trying to plant seeds for a future plan to shift the market towards Linux, instead of Windows and does Sony plan to enter the realm of operating systems? Microsoft ties into this whole theory, because they might’ve discovered Sony’s plan and in order to stop them, they released their own video game console, the Xbox. If my theory’s correct, there is an even bigger war going on behind the scenes. Sony and Microsoft are already in battle over video games (Playstation vs Xbox) and disc formats (blu-ray vs hd-dvd), so an OS battle could be right around the corner. Maybe i'm reading into things too deep, but something's definitely going on here.

Good piece you guys over there at SPG, and thanks for the spot Sam. Keep 'em coming. You can read the full piece with comments here.