arguser's posterous

Oh Boy!

The GNU General Public License was written to protect the freedoms that have brought the world so many useful things, including software like Linux and XBMC, from which Boxee has taken its code base. One of those essential freedoms is to be able to change open-source software to make it better suit a purpose.  It is essential to the evolution of open-source projects that people are free to take something and run with it as they see fit.  This is how Free Software has come so far.  D-Link and Boxee have now played a trick on the people who made it possible (developers and customers), by trying to hide behind games and deceit to exert control over your hardware.  They have blocked installation of custom software on the Boxee Box.

Boxee is NOT a small-time open-source community project by people who do it out of love; it is now a big money operation and they are using dirty tricks to exert control they should not have.  They use customers' and investors' money to have road trips and keg parties while users who have already paid are left with alpha-quality software and no way to fix it themselves.  They have decided to have a 3 month (forced) release cycle, making many users wait with completely disabling bugs.

What is also striking is Boxee's abandonment of development on the open platforms.  Progress has all but stopped, and you never see them tweeting about the PC version.  Little wonder, when they imagine for themselves a future of total power on the Boxee Box.

There has been a freight train of broken promises along the way, with the Netflix Promise Debacle and VUDU (it was on the retail box but didn't work) being some of the more publicized.  The option to use XBMC instead does not exist, and soon there will be a big surprise for many Boxee Box owners... The option to control the volume with the remote will disappear! Because of the forced updates, if you don't like something, too bad for you.  Don't get too attached to that volume function on the D-pad of the remote.

Moreover, the closed hardware breaks promises made during its promotion, by none other than Boxee CEO Avner Ronen:

"No keyboards, mice, windows or labyrinthine menus.  It should be calm and it should be beautiful. And it *must* be open." 

Instead we have labyrinthine menus, no option to skin or customize, ugly visualizations, and a COMPLETELY CLOSED SOFTWARE.  The deception continues: blog posts like this from before the release of the Boxee Box have been hidden.  (Track back through the pages and see that the history has been cut off)

Avner Ronen has publicly said hacking the Boxee Box was something they "hoped for" and they would try make it "hacker friendly". Clip Youtube Article

Part of this hacking would be the ability to use XBMC instead of Boxee on the box:
Originally Posted by avneron
yes, users should be able to run XBMC on the Boxee Box. we're not sure about the exact installation process that will be supported, but it is important for us to make sure XBMC runs properly on the Box.

Many people made buying decisions on that claim alone.  Strung along with false promises and deceptive tactics, many return periods lapsed before people realized what was happening.  Now they are stuck.

Help spread the word, this isn't right at all!

Another version of the AMAZING Humble Bundle! Previous versions provided the most cool indie games ever and this one is no different!!