149w ago - Today George Hotz aka
GeoHot has announced he is retiring from Sony PS3 and Apple iPhone hacking, citing that the demand for updates from end-users will never stop.
In his exit from the PS3 scene, GeoHot left many legitimate PlayStation 3 users
without OtherOS and without the promised
3.21OO PS3 Custom Firmware.
The good news?
Others whom GeoHot shared the PS3 METLDR info and LV2 dump with are currently using his work to continue hacking the PS3 console, with rumors from IRC (for what those are worth LOL) indicating a public "end-user" PS3 hack may arrive before September 2010 from their camp.
Unfortunately though, just like the past
Dark_AleX and "M33" PSP releases, an incoming PS3 hack will probably be from a fictitious group and won't include anything useful to PS3 Devs such as dumps, reversals, sourcecode, etc.
Hopefully once a hole that Sony can't block is public, other PlayStation 3 Devs will begin working on the PS3 though... and sharing all the juicy the technical details along the way for others who wish to learn.
This will help ensure the PS3 scene won't fall victim to the hypocritical and ridiculous "anti-piracy, users deserve nothing" attitude that began the downfall and led to the fate of the current PSP scene.
To quote: His PS3 username, Twitter account, and blog are all now shut down. His last tweet said, "it was a cool ride, and i've learned a lot about a lot. perhaps one of these days i'll do a more formal goodbye."
Along with that post, he wrote in his blog explaining his reasons for retiring from the scene. He says that he "didn't fully realize most of the current scene don't care unless they are getting something," but now he does.
He then continued a bit more in his post with the following: "The real reason behind no release isn't technical. It's just that it will never stop, after blackra1n, people demand unlock, after blacksn0w, people demand untethered. I miss the days when jailbreaking and unlocking were difficult, it attracted a much higher caliber crowd."
I Have PS3 (80 GB) I've Downgrade It With E3 Flash But I Have Done a Mistake In Files , Then I've Followed a Tutorial , Then I've Fixed It , Now It Po...
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Without him, the whole of the iPhone community would not be able to jailbreak or unlock their iPhone or iPod Touches, all the unlocks are based on his work.
PS3 wasn't his priority, the iPhone was and he accomplished in hacking all iPhone's. Heck, I bet the iPhone Dev Team would have hacked the PS3 by now if they didn't spend their time on the iPhone.
First off, being as it is that he might be an egotistical dick bag, as a few people have already stated, it is still a great loss to the hacking community. Whenever a hacker decides to resign, that is less resources that we as a community have designated to our cause.
Regardless of whether or not he was great, the best, or merely just another hacker, a loss will always be a loss. He brought many things to the community, and the PS3 scene did progress in some part thanks to him and his talent.
I know he had his share of reasons for resigning, but I want to pick out one of them and share my opinion on it. The fact that he no longer felt like dealing with the end user portion of the community is complete and utter BS. Yes, it can no doubt get annoying with immature nags and taunts.
Fact is though, his hacking endeavors are not a hobby, but rather follow the path that many careers do. It was his duty to deliver to the end user after he undertook the task of hacking the PS3 (or anything for that matter), unless he specifically addressed the issue as R&D.
As to the case of the PS3 scene, it was not R&D. He did specifically say he did not want to get involved in the 'end user piracy' part of it if you will, but he did promise to deliver CFW 3.21 in order to restore Other OS. He failed to do so, not so much because of a lack of talent (to my knowledge) but rather a lack of enthusiasm.
I look at his case like that of a doctor, when you have a bullet lodged in your body, you go to a hospital in order to have that bullet removed and your life saved. The doctor takes an oath that he will do everything he can to deliver you to safety. Perhaps he needs to amputate, or do certain procedures that you do not approve of.
You nag and nag to find another way, yet the doctor does not quit on the job and leave you there on the operating table. That is irresponsible, and quite frankly, unprofessional. Geo's behavior in my opinion is exactly that.
He obtained his moments of fame by successfully hacking the PS3 (as far as we know) and then decided he didn't want to deal with the rest of the scene. As a well known saying goes, "Either nut up or shut up." If he didn't want to deal with the end users (and there isn't an excuse for not for seeing the issue would explode, common sense is all you need) then he should not have handled the situation the way he had.
His actions led to consequences that us, the community now have to be held accountable for, among them is lack of PSN ( for reasons which include to promised CFW, and refusal to upgrade ), Other OS, and plenty of stress and time, amongst other things.
To end my rant, I simply want to say that I am not only disappointed with his loss, but also with his actions. Needless to say the community will live on with out him, perhaps even strengthen because of the whole situation, but the lack of professionalism on his part is sad and immature.
The real world out there, beyond MTV and Hollywood, the real professional world, demands much greater character than what he put on display here, and even though he had reason to resign, that world will bite him in the ass if he continues along the path he is now.
A loud mouth might get him fame, and I'm sure he has the brains to be successful, but always remember, to brains are better than one. My .02.
-Mickey
When things get going a bit on the ps3 i will maybe get one or just use it as it right out of the box.. mind you firmware updates will have to most likely be done but these young kids now a days just don't have what it takes to maybe hack the ps3 as Sony has really thought ahead when they made the ps3.
This is why I don't like this guy, he's a dickbag.