199w ago - Recently we learned that the PS3 Slim didn't lose the OtherOS and Linux functionality due to a
security hole, however, many were left wondering why Sony ditched them.
Today, TheRegister.co.uk (linked above) has a definitive answer- to cut costs and be able to pass the savings on to the consumer.
To quote: "A forum
response on Sony's official Linux for PlayStation 2 developer community sheds some new light on the feature's removal.
A Sony rep explained the company is simply unwilling to bear costs of maintaining the hypervisor used for OtherOS support across major hardware revisions. From the horse's mouth:
The reasons are simple: The PS3 Slim is a major cost reduction involving many changes to hardware components in the PS3 design. In order to offer the OtherOS install, SCE would need to continue to maintain the OtherOS hypervisor drivers for any significant hardware changes - this costs SCE. One of our key objectives with the new model is to pass on cost savings to the consumer with a lower retail price. Unfortunately in this case the cost of OtherOS install did not fit with the wider objective to offer a lower cost PS3.
We'll see if we can get the offical OtherOS page updated with something to this effect so that an official explanation is provided. Thank you for your comments.
Sarah."
7 Comments - Go to Forum Thread »
Don't believe everything people say.. try it yourself 
Kraken
It has been speculated that one of the reasons that the PS3 hasn't been hacked is that there's no valid reason to do it - If you want homebrew, you install Linux.
Without that option, there is certainly going to be more incentive for someone who owns a slim to attempt to get their code running on it - Which now means that they have to hack it.
Of course, it is possible that the PS3 is completely secure. However, this is somewhat unlikely.