[mythtv-users] Why Free Software has poor usability ?

[Kevin Kuphal]

On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 2:31 PM, John Drescher <drescherjm at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 3:25 PM, Param Singh <mithu.singh at gmail.com> wrote:
> > If everything about mythtv and its usability is good, then why
> > competitors are using "mythtv is a lot of work" as marketing tool ?
> >
> > Screenshot :: http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/5687/mythtvju4.png
> >
> I laugh every time I see that being that their product requires
> windows. Which to me is much more work and headaches than MythTV could
> possibly cause considering that using windows safely will requires
> usually a virus checker and anti-spyware software. And if you use
> these tools from Symantec there goes 200 or so MB of ram.


Let's be fair here.  Installing a PVR on Windows is probably significantly
easier than doing the same on Linux given a random set of hardware.  The
driver support is better, the installation is usually a click-click wizard.
Linux can often be difficult for people to get running or easy to get
running (LiveCD) but hard to maintain comparatively.  And I wouldn't say
that running virus/spyware software on a non-desktop Media Center type
"appliance PC" would be a requirement necessary for most people.

Of course, ease of installation and usability can also be two very different
things.  I don't think MythTV is terribly hard in either category but then
I've installed it a half a dozen times and can do the whole thing in a
matter of hours now from start to finish.

Kevin
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