[TangerineOrange]

Kodi team, could you require that skin developers always include the Home and BACK buttons at the bottom right corner of the screen? Like the one seen in the Confluence skin? It makes navigation a whole lot easier and faster. I downloaded a few great skins that I really liked. But on seeing that the navigation was somewhat confusing and one even resisted letting me exit, I went back to Confluence and will stay with it.

People new to Kodi who are frustrated and ready to give up on it. If like me you aren't a fan of manuals, either swallow hard and read the online installation help available or like me, go TAE. TAE? Trial and error. In other words find some time away from distractions and play with it. Between half reading some online help and doing TAE, it took me about an hour to figure out how to install the Add-Ons I wanted. Don't do the TAE grudgingly, decide you're going to have fun learning something. It actually is fun learning to use it when you have an attitude like that. When you get the hang of it, congratulate yourself with a frosty cold beer, Schiltz is best, or an A&W Root Beer float.

Kodi has so many options in terms of Add-Ons, newbies should focus on what they truly need as oppose to what they want. I get all my TV shows and movies via ROKU and my aerial antenna. But when I saw all the goodies Kodi offers, I was sorely tempted add on more and more stuff. I self-corrected by taking a break and reminding myself why I got Kodi in the first place. To wit, watch college football games I won't see due to being a cable cutter. So? I have only three Add-Ons, which are redundant in case I have to use an alternate for a particular game.

Finally, my intent is to put Kodi to the test starting this weekend when football season kicks off. If all goes as I honestly believe it will, I hope others join me in something. Like what? If Kodi works as advertised, show them some love with a donation. Surely there are cable cutters out there who endured the predatory fee mongers and rude customer service other than myself. And have sincere appreciation for people like the Kodi folks who provide us with. . . here it comes. . .a free alternative. Which allows us to vote those greedy and rude cable creatures out of our wallets.

[Ned Scott]

Thanks for the feedback, but I think I can solve some of the mystery for you:

Kodi is designed to be used in the living room / 10-foot-UI with a remote control. These remote controls typically have dedicated back buttons and sometimes dedicated home buttons. The on-screen buttons you see are just there for optional mouse/touch compatibility, which is a lesser consideration for Kodi. Most skins are not designed to be used with mice/touch screens at all, and that's fine with us.

The Kodi project doesn't make any video content add-ons. We don't provide any content, and we certainly don't provide sports streams. Kodi isn't even specifically for cord cutting. Kodi's main aim is to be a media interface and player for your local (HDD or network) library of media. Streaming content from the internet isn't the main focus, but is an option for people via add-ons.

Many streaming add-ons provide pirated/bootleg content. We have nothing to do with that. Even if you see Kodi advertised everywhere with such add-ons, that's only because of the people who are trying to make money off of Kodi, or have a mistaken impression of where that content comes from. Kodi is just a player, just like your TV is just a display. All of that content is not Kodi-exclisive, despite the popularity of some add-ons made specifically for Kodi.

We actually take great pains to distance ourselves from piracy. At the same time, we don't shun such things. We just want to be seen as a neutral media player, to protect our project legally and reputation wise. This is likely why it took you so long to install those add-ons, because they have to be manually installed and we won't provide help for them.