2014-09-12, 04:05
(2014-09-11, 16:16)raid517 Wrote: [ -> ]However I think that one of the things I would like to see for the future of XBMC is a move away from the amateur (and often extremely illicit) apps that are supplied via the XBMC community.
The vast majority of apps on the iOS App Store or on Google Play are pretty crappy. Thousands of games, apps, and utilities that I would never consider installing. The existence of amateur content does not cause the lack of "professional" content.
Quote:Currently the majority of XBMC apps are of a very poor quality. Netflix or LoveFilm this isn't. If you only care about stealing movies this system is for you. But if you want quality apps like Flickr, Facebook, Twitter etc, XBMC will disappoint. What apps there are qualify as barely adequate.
You have an idea in your head that is fundamentally wrong. That idea is that XBMC/Kodi is focused on streaming media. It is not. There are improvements being made in that area, but to this day the main focus, the main priority, has always been to the local file library. The vast majority of your argument is that we should be some Roku-like platform that caters to streaming media. That's not what this group wants to do. We do not provide services or content. We do not do business deals and rub elbows with content providers to make them happy. We made a program we like, because that's what we like, and we're happy to share it with other people. It's as simple as that.
Quote:Illicit apps that download pirated content are fine, I don't really care about this (as this is what most XBMC apps seem to do), but ultimately they may damage the reputation of the foundation, particularly if this is all XBMC does. As strange as it may seem to some people, large numbers of ordinary people are not interested in accessing pirated content. They see themselves as honest and preferring to make honest choices.
That's one of the major reasons we made a huge deal about trademarking the new name, to protect our reputation. For the last couple of years we've been fighting this misconception very strongly (because we could not control the previous "XBMC" brand name), while at the same time not restricting users freedom. We are not a closed ecosystem, and it is no business of ours how people choose to use the software in their homes. We can do some things to help our brand and image outside of that, but we are not willing to shoot ourselves to do it. Nor can we, given the open source nature of the software. It's simply not possible to stop people from making add-ons when we are open source. All of our restrictions would be public and trivial to bypass.
Quote:So if I were to say what I would like to see as the biggest change for the future, it is the provision of quality apps (and perhaps an app store) in XBMC. You guys might think it's a crazy idea, but I will bet you every last dollar you have if you go to any of these large companies, they will flock to try to help you with development for apps for their platforms (and money too for that matter.)
Like OUYA? I like OUYA, but very few companies (and none of the content giants) have flocked to them. Their entire business model is around their app store.
I have no problem with the idea of a showcase of some kind to have really good add-ons stand out, but that in itself does little to nothing to encourage big content owners to us. The real issue is that they're already making tons of money in existing channels, and for existing products and devices that exist for their services. Supporting an open source program is a risk, and our small user base (when compared to the mainstream, we are so very small), it's just not worth it for the bean counters.
Quote:You already have a vast audience - and next to Microsoft Media centre, XBMC (or Kodi) is probably the most used Media Centre software in the world. Why exactly shouldn't the foundation earn revenue from this, and at the same time vastly improve the XBMC user experience? As what I assume is a charitable foundation there is no limit to the good that could be done with the money that is made.
We actually have more money than we need, in context to our current goals for this year. Our users have been extremely supportive, and we even have a few companies who sponsor us as well. You can't throw money at something and just expect good to be done. There's a whole organizational layer that is missing that would be needed to expand and create new programs or community efforts, and we don't have that right now. It would be great if we could evolve to "Mozilla-like" status one day, but the hold up isn't money. Other things have to evolve and grow before we can use that money wisely.
So I see where you are going from all of this, but again, I think it stems from a fundamental misconception of what our goals are and have been for the last 10 years.
Personally, I think in time the "unthinkable" will happen and that more video content will be available without DRM content. Eventually content providers will learn to adapt their business model to just selling content, rather than trying to control the entire experience. Kodi will one day be able to stream most major services due to server-side precautions, rather than user-side DRM. I think this because it's already happened with music, and that was just as unthinkable. I think will be a nice bonus, but it won't really be a change in how Kodi is made. I think by that time Kodi will simply see streaming content as just another generic source, and the focus will still be on allowing people to control how their library is displayed and organized.
Maybe that won't ever happen, but I find it more likely than a future where Kodi rejects the user's control in favor of streaming services.
