Boxee abandons HTPC users with latest update

[Ace]

From February 2012, the PC, Mac and Linux versions of Boxee will be discontinued.

Source: http://blog.boxee.tv...oftware-update/

This 1.5 release will be the last version of Boxee for PC/Mac/Ubuntu. It will be available on Boxee.tv through the end of January.

We believe the future of TV will be driven by devices such as the Boxee Box, Connected TVs / Blu-Rays and 2nd screen devices such as tablets and phones. While there are are still many users who have computers connected to their TVs, we believe this use case is likely to decline as users find better alternatives. People will continue to watch a lot of video on their computer, but it is more likely to be a laptop than a home-theater PC and probably through a browser rather than downloaded software.

To our computer users? to those who have come out to our NYC and SF meetups, talked with us at Engadget, GDGT, and Giz Gallery events, or enjoyed Austin BBQ with us during SxSW, or simply messaged with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our forums? thank you for all your support ? we would not be where we are today without you. But we can?t stay here.

We are excited about the upcoming release of Boxee Live TV and our new product roadmap for 2012. If you are a current Boxee user on a computer we hope that you will enjoy 1.5 and maybe when you are ready to retire that good ol? HTPC/Mac Mini you will decide to get a Boxee Box.

Sincerely,

Team Boxee

[TheLegendOfMart]

Disgusting.

They take something open source, put a new skin on it then once its popular stick it on branded hardware box and sell it for ?180~ then dump the people who made the software popular.

I've been waiting for this update to bring it in line with the HTPC Software ever since Boxee Box launched. I hope everyone dumps the software and their branded hardware.

[Guest]

So what can we use as an alternative? I have tried XBMC and its just not as nice. Plex needs a server to stream it and thats a pain if you just want to play from a nas.

[TheLegendOfMart]

There are no big alternatives if you wanted a connected experience.

The only other one i tried is QVIVO and its mainly just for local/network playback, i had loads of problems trying to get it to identify files correctly.

XBMC is the only real alternative but ive yet to find a skin which matches Boxee style and ease of use.

[Ace]

I hope everyone dumps the software and their branded hardware.

I agree. If I had Boxee installed on my HTPC, I certainly wouldn't consider buying a Boxee Box now.

[Anibal P]

Disgusting.

They take something open source, put a new skin on it then once its popular stick it on branded hardware box and sell it for ?180~ then dump the people who made the software popular.

I've been waiting for this update to bring it in line with the HTPC Software ever since Boxee Box launched. I hope everyone dumps the software and their branded hardware.

YEAH how dare they decide to focus on making money instead of giving away their product for free!!!!!!!

Bill don't need to be payed or anything like that, they're all Monks giving away their time for free

[TheLegendOfMart]

YEAH how dare they decide to focus on making money instead of giving away their product for free!!!!!!!

Bill don't need to be payed or anything like that, they're all Monks giving away their time for free

They are making money by selling open source software, the people who used the 'free software' are the ones that made them popular in the first place.

At the very LEAST they could do is enable it so people could make their own builds from the sourcecode.

[Anibal P]

They are making money by selling open source software, the people who used the 'free software' are the ones that made them popular in the first place.

At the very LEAST they could do is enable it so people could make their own builds from the sourcecode.

And your point? As long as the license used allows commercialization of the software they have done nothing wrong, that some will loose out, it is sad, Boxee was pretty nice to use, BUT as a company they have decided to focus on the commercial side, they can if they want release the source BUT again it all depends on the license and if they don't have to, we can't force them to.

[Ace]

Plex, Inc. make money by licensing their Plex software to LG for smart TVs and by selling apps in the App Store and Android Market. Why can't Boxee do this too?

[Miuku.]

we can't force them to.

We can't force them but here it comes.. are you ready for it.. we can criticize them and raise awareness of what they're doing.

Although I'm pretty sure they're going to go out of "business" anyway with this decision.

[+Warwagon MVC]

So what can we use as an alternative? I have tried XBMC and its just not as nice. Plex needs a server to stream it and thats a pain if you just want to play from a nas.

I was actually the other way around. I tried Boxie, but didn't like how it handled video content on the lan, then went to XBMC, couldn't be happier.

[Vice]

I have a HTPC that I built and that I installed Boxee on to and I love it. But now that they've done this I dunno what I'm going to do really. I was considering an upgrade to the HTPC just yesterday bumping it from an A64 5000+ on AM2 to a Core i5 on the 1155 socket. Now that Boxee has done this I don't think I'll bother with such an upgrade.

I don't think I'll be buying a Boxee Box that's for damn sure because now that they've ended support for the other platforms I don't feel like giving them a dime. This just makes me dislike the company entirely. It would have been different had they said this a year ago but to say it now with just 2 months left? That is to me ridiculous.. What about all the people who bought or built HTPC's specifically for Boxee only for them to do this? In-fact I'm one of those people as I built the HTPC I have specifically to use Boxee on it.

This sucks. Seriously sucks.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Did Boxie Box ever add, video resuming? I think that was one thing that annoyed me watching video content through boxie

[Vice]

Did Boxie Box ever add, video resuming? I think that was one thing that annoyed me watching video content through boxie

Yeah it has resuming.

[ylcard]

For ****'s sake it's BOXEE.

Never used it and I guess I never will, which is a shame because I'd love to support an Israeli product.. but I just can't see myself buying it.

Oh and can't you just stay on the current version or whatever ? Why would it break your HTPC's ?

[giantpotato]

The latest version is a little flakey, for me at least.

1. After playing a video and returning to the previous page, the previous page does not load, it just shows the 'loading...' circle forever.

2. Some of the videos don't load properly, I tried loading a video from SPIKE TV and it shows the webpage in full, with the actual video halfway down the page and cut off.

3. The program crashed on me.

4. They removed 'backspace' from navigation to go back one page. You have to use Esc now instead. This is really annoying since my Logitech diNovo mini doesn't have a dedicated Esc key. Now I have to awkwardly press Fn + Tab to navigate backwards.

It feels like they're intentionally breaking the PC version. I'm considering going back to the older version.