[mythtv-users] Ubuntu Media Center team dumping MythTV for Elisa (yuck!)

[Justin Hornsby]

So a new player comes along & 'wows' (if you can even call it that in
the case of Elisa) people with its effects driven UI... so what?

What does that mean for mythTV?  A few users find it suits their needs
& they use that rather than MythTV.  No great loss.

I'm sorry but there's nothing to see here.  So we 'lose' a few fickle
users.  Big wow.

Other than the obvious (and rather tacky IMHO) UI effects, MythTV is
still miles ahead of many a PVR application - even ones folks pay good
money for.

Elisa hasn't yet shown any signs that it could even be a contender for
a serious PVR application - it just doesn't have the necessary
framework in place yet and that isn't going to happen overnight.  I
think whoever makes the decisions made here is ill-advised if they're
being led by UI design alone.

I don't think MythTV will miss the fickle users who follow trends &
wind up overvaluing flashy interfaces.

I've seen the screencasts of Elisa's UI & the new Freevo2 UI.  They
*do* look er.. nice (well, Freevo2's does at any rate) but at the end
of the day how much time do you spend watching the UI?  See, you
don't.  If you're about to argue that users care about UI effects I'd
try to shoot you down with "yeah, maybe they do but at the cost of
usability & functionality?  Get real".

Anyway, since when was MythTV about some kind of genital measuring
test against other applications?  This project - as far as I can
ascertain - has always been about fulfilling a need of the developers
& other contributors.  I don't think it 'needs' users per se.

I love MythTV very much & find it hard to imagine my life without it.
I don't honestly see any of these newcomers as a threat at all.  I'm a
little envious that they have a little bit of eyecandy mythtv lacks
but I can see all that's going to take to change is a bit of work.  I
say 'a bit' when I mean 'quite a lot'.. but all it takes is for folks
to contribute instead of waiting around for some mythical SoC student
to mop it all up!

So really.. the thing is WHO CARES the Ubuntu Media Center team have
'dropped' MythTV anyway?  They saw 'bling', were dazzled - and made
the *wrong* choice.  All that glisters is not gold...

regards,
Justin

-- 
Justin Hornsby
Creator of ProjectGrayhem, blootube and neon-wide themes for MythTV
email: justin(dot)hornsby(at)gmail.com
web: http://www.juski.co.uk

--

Come & see MythTV at LUGRadio Live 2007, July 7th - 8th @ The
Lighthouse, Fryer Street, Wolverhampton, UK.  See
http://www.lugradio.org/live