Yellow dog Linux and anyone could run Folding (no Linux required).
The reason was likely a tax dodge to get the device taxed as a computer and not toy similar to why the PS2 also had this functionality for that same tax dodge.
Secondary reason was probably the US military PS3 supercomputer back in the day.
I think there is a holy grail MGS4 PS3 special edition that retained hardware backwards compatibility (all models after went to software) and was 80gb of storage if I'm remembering correctly.
Yellow dog Linux and anyone could run Folding (no Linux required).
The reason was likely a tax dodge to get the device taxed as a computer and not toy similar to why the PS2 also had this functionality for that same tax dodge.
Secondary reason was probably the US military PS3 supercomputer back in the day.
I think there is a holy grail MGS4 PS3 special edition that retained hardware backwards compatibility (all models after went to software) and was 80gb of storage if I'm remembering correctly.
In my headcanon they did that because of the ”Saddam is buying PS2s to turn into a supercomputer” thing.