2011-08-09, 04:36
keith,
Two things before I contribute my comments: 1) I am in awe of the job you and the rest of the devs do, and have done, to make XBMC what it is so far, let alone what it will become; and 2), I'm new here, so my comments don't carry a whole lot of weight at this point, but I'd like to share my thoughts anyway if you don't mind.
First off--totally agree that it would be less confusing if the two builds were called "stable" and "beta" (or even "alpha", if you really want to put people off using the nightlies), rather than "official/unofficial". It's a lot more standard nomenclature.
The thing is, I think you guys are in a sense victims of your own success. I can only really speak for myself in this, but it seems to me that XBMC has become such a viable solution to the media streaming needs of so many people, that now pure laypeople are coming in greater numbers. I'm somewhat technically inclined (did computer tech support for 20 years), but I'm no expert, and thus I've found myself a little stumped by some of the terminology and issues surrounding current releases of XBMC, particularly for the Apple TV2. I suspect "devspeak", which may have been sufficient in the past, will also need to incorporate more "layspeak"; if not, you'll find yourselves answering a million and one "what's the unofficial build?" questions
Second--I think part of the problem too is that average Joes like me come here, and we want to try to stay out of you guys' hair, and not pester with silly questions (at least I know I want to avoid that). But there are a million places where there's information, some of it out of date, some of it conflicting. There's the wiki, various threads throughout the forums, the FAQ's, threads on other websites, etc. And again, it's a bit technical for people who aren't "in the know" like you guys are. A more centralized and more accessible-to-laypeople wiki would be a great start.
Third--what, you mean you guys DON'T have a build yet with a fix for the slow thumbnail issue I raised a few hours ago? hehehehe....kidding of course.
Anyway, like I said, I'm new here, so please take my comments with a very large grain of salt!
Two things before I contribute my comments: 1) I am in awe of the job you and the rest of the devs do, and have done, to make XBMC what it is so far, let alone what it will become; and 2), I'm new here, so my comments don't carry a whole lot of weight at this point, but I'd like to share my thoughts anyway if you don't mind.
First off--totally agree that it would be less confusing if the two builds were called "stable" and "beta" (or even "alpha", if you really want to put people off using the nightlies), rather than "official/unofficial". It's a lot more standard nomenclature.
The thing is, I think you guys are in a sense victims of your own success. I can only really speak for myself in this, but it seems to me that XBMC has become such a viable solution to the media streaming needs of so many people, that now pure laypeople are coming in greater numbers. I'm somewhat technically inclined (did computer tech support for 20 years), but I'm no expert, and thus I've found myself a little stumped by some of the terminology and issues surrounding current releases of XBMC, particularly for the Apple TV2. I suspect "devspeak", which may have been sufficient in the past, will also need to incorporate more "layspeak"; if not, you'll find yourselves answering a million and one "what's the unofficial build?" questions
Second--I think part of the problem too is that average Joes like me come here, and we want to try to stay out of you guys' hair, and not pester with silly questions (at least I know I want to avoid that). But there are a million places where there's information, some of it out of date, some of it conflicting. There's the wiki, various threads throughout the forums, the FAQ's, threads on other websites, etc. And again, it's a bit technical for people who aren't "in the know" like you guys are. A more centralized and more accessible-to-laypeople wiki would be a great start.
Third--what, you mean you guys DON'T have a build yet with a fix for the slow thumbnail issue I raised a few hours ago? hehehehe....kidding of course.
Anyway, like I said, I'm new here, so please take my comments with a very large grain of salt!