It simply hasn't got enough good games.
Subjective to taste.
It doesn't have a good community/sales channel like Xbox Live.
Wrong.
It doesn't have XNA.
It has Linux.
Most people buy a games console to play games, everything else is a long way second and 360 is the best gaming choice.
Subjective to taste.
a friend of mine who has one say the cooler is rediculously loud. Can anyone confirm?
Having looked up numerous noise issues online to try and see if anyone helse has experienced mine I can tell you that no two models are the same. My cooler is practically silent (I can only assume it is working) - in fact the only time my PS3 makes noise is when it boots (and when you quit out of) FF12. Terrible horrible drive-crunching-like buzz sound. It works fine and the noise 'only' lasts 5 secs or so. Any other PS1, PS2 or PS3 game plays normally.
But you will undoubtedly hear a differing story from each and every PS3 owner. =]