[mythtv-users] Myth Developers ban all use of MythTV as a PVRdue to IP infringement?

[Anthony R. Baker]

    Dude, do you know Robert Current?
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: kijuhty kijuhty 
  To: Discussion about mythtv 
  Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 4:50 PM
  Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Myth Developers ban all use of MythTV as a PVRdue to IP infringement?


  To the nay-sayers who insist that Tribune's "threat" to kill zap2it was not fake and that they really were ready to deal with screen scrapers, look at it logically.  If Tribune really wanted to stop zap2it labs, they would have shut it down "effective immediately".  That would have had the desired effect; all myth users in the u.s. would instantly be without TV, and have no time to get a screen scraper or other solution in place, and our wives wouldn't let us go 1 day without TV/PVR, so we'd have to switch to the cable company's box.  Myth would have lost lots and lots of users who wouldn't have stuck around to wait for a screen scraper or other alternative.  But Tribune didn't.  They announced the "termination" months in advance.  Why would they do that?  That would only mean we all have plenty of time to develop a screen scraper alternative and continue using myth uninterrupted.  It's clear their "we will terminate in 3 months" was purely an attempt to test the waters and see if the myth community would be willing to cross the line and go from being free to paying Tribune for the data, and to allow enough time to form a non-free alternative.  These guys on the list respond with comments like "tin foil on the head".  That's just a silly emotional response and proves that the authors lack the  cognitive skills to think logically and form a coherent response.  I don't see one logical counter-argument to the obvious fact that Tribune's "termination" announcement was just a test to see if Myth's community would pay, only silly comments about tin foil, which shows where certain people's mindset is.

  All this complaining about whether someone can afford $5 month.  Sure we can afford it.  But we can also afford $13/month for the cable company's PVR, and then we'll be able to record 400 digital channels (not the 10 or so Myth can receive), and we can record premium content like HBO & Showtime in high-def.

  The point is not whether it's $1 or $1,000.  There's a black & white, crystal clear line between free and non-free.  You're "non-free" if you charge anything, even 1 cent for the next 100 years.  I didn't use Myth because I couldn't afford $13/month for the cable box.  I used myth because I believed in the free software movement and wanted to support a free solution.  I actually would rather pay $13/month to Comcast and record the Sopranos in high-def than $5/month to SD so I can only record a handful of un-encrypted QAM/ATSC channels, all of which are crammed with commercials.  Like most myth users, we made lots of sacrifices (stability, usability, number of channels, etc.) because we wanted to support a free solution.

  So it's hard for us all to accept that Myth isn't free anymore and we're still supposed to show the same support.  As long as I'm using a non-free solution, I might as well get the Comcast box and watch the channels I really want to watch.

  When you watch Tribune/DD/Zap2It's actions, it's really clear that for them giving free access to zap2it was better/cheaper/etc. than trying to thwart screen scrapers.  If they were really going to do stuff to circumvent scraping (like using images instead) then they would have done it years ago instead of giving away dd for free.  They're a business.  Their goal is to make money.  period.  They weren't giving us zap2it/dd for free to be "nice" and "charitable".  They did it because it was cheaper than dealing with screen scrapers.

  So despite all the talk, I'm really convinced that if the Myth community stood up and said "no, myth is and always be a free solution, and if you kill zap2it we'll go back to screen scraping", then Tribune would back down and continue to give dd for free, since, after all if thwarting screen scrapers was really their plan, they would have done it years ago instead of offering DD for free.  Tribune "tested the waters" to see if the myth community would cross the line and go from free to non-free, and the myth community said 'yes, we'll go non-free', that's why SD exists.





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