[mythtv-users] Apple iTV - MythTV Frontend?

Brad DerManouelian myth at dermanouelian.com
Mon Jan 15 15:36:07 UTC 2007


On Jan 15, 2007, at 6:21 AM, osma ahvenlampi wrote:

> On 1/15/07, Brad DerManouelian <myth at dermanouelian.com> wrote:
>> Historically, Apple has never purposefully prevented anyone from  
>> using
>> whatever OS they'd like on their hardware. I used Yellow Dog quite  
>> a bit
>> several years back without issue on my PPC machines and currently  
>> dual-boot
>> my MacBook Pro between OS X and Windows. I can't imagine Apple  
>> much cares
>> what you do with it as long as you don't expect support for  
>> alternative
>> operating systems. It's not like they're Microsoft, yet.
>
> You forget this is not a computer, it's a TV set-top-box with built-in
> iTunes connection. I'm quite sure Apple very much cares where it loads
> content from, even if it does follow the iPod business model of making
> money on the hardware and providing the service nearly at-cost,
> because the service's function is to lock-in the user to Apple's
> platforms.
>
> This is not to say that Apple _has_ locked the box from alternative
> operating systems, only that you shouldn't necessarily expect they
> haven't just because the computers aren't locked.

Ok then, let's go the route of the iPod. There's 3rd party  
replacement firmware for the iPod that Apple has never tried to lock  
out. I've never seen Apple go out of their way to restrict the use of  
their hardware so it will only work with their software. In fact, the  
only restrictive thing I've seen from them is the industry-mandated  
DRM on the iTunes content. From what I can tell, they HATE doing it.  
When the version of iPhoto that allowed networking sharing of photos  
came out, Jobs said, "Look! You can drag and drop photos from other  
people's shares into your own. Finally, no copyright issues to  
contend with."


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