Samsung buys Boxee
#31
(2013-07-05, 18:34)Anastrophe Wrote: I remember all the hints that we'd be able to run xbmc on the boxee box when the hardware was first announced - par for the course I guess

Until the locked down the bootloader. The Boxee Box hardware would be a decent platform, but you can't load anything else on it. Paperweight. But somewhere in the dank recesses of my mind, I remember someone in authority of Boxee saying that if they decided to stop support, they would have something to unlock it... Or did I imagine that
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#32
Samsung almost certainly bought Boxee to get it hands on the employees. Samsung doesn't want Google to take over smart TV platforms, it wants to remain in control of it's own platform and not have to bow to market pressure if Google TV takes off or Apple finally releases it's TV and shames Samsungs efforts.

TV companies/divisions are a different breed entirely, they have no people with any actual UI design experience working on them, thats been my experience across several different manufacturers. Some of them seem to operate from a different era, some Panasonic 2013 UI elements look like something that came from MS DOS.

So Samsung will use it's ex-Boxee folk to polish up it's platform waiting for the inevitable GoogleTV/AppleTV showdown, it's actually a surprisingly smart move by Samsung.
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#33
(2013-07-05, 02:27)Jezz_X Wrote:
(2013-07-05, 00:22)matthuisman Wrote: Would someone mind updating me on the Boxee history?
Last I thought they were using XBMC as a base and in-return sponsoring XBMC?
Sounds like their has been a "f-u" along the way?

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Thi...ives#Boxee still states they are a sponser?

There has been a big F-U to their users at least 3 times maybe 4

1) They stopped making a client for desktop pc's (the one based on xbmc) and told all their users they had to buy the boxee box hardware if they want updates or any changes
1.5) They bought out a tv tuner addon for the boxee box that got zero support for people who paid for it
2) They ditched the boxee box (in under 2 years) and said they would no longer support it or fix any of the bugs in it (there are many) and moved over to the Cloud DVR TV model
3) Samsung bought them and now they are shutting down the new Cloud DVR box (about 6 months after it went live) and anyone who got one now basically has a $100 paper weight and are having all of their recorded tv deleted

I made a blogpost myself about this: The boxee bubble

And here is an interview
Avner Ronan distantiating from XBMC. That's not how that dream started. It started with porting and forking xbmc.
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#34
oh damn, 2012 is calling.
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#35
I wonder where all boxee legacy would end up, Any whispers?
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#36
interesting...
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