#“The Death of Boxee”
Boxee finally told us what we all knew was coming, they are dropping support for PC/Mac/Linux. And with that, we now know they are done. I predict they will either shut up shop before this time next year or be sold for chump change by their VCs. Rumours that they are already hawking themselves around to CE companies sound reasonable.
Boxee got all of its buzz and online promotion from early adopters like me who loved their fork of the XBMC code-base. It worked brilliantly on both Windows and Linux for me. Then the updates stopped as they tried to release the code for the D-Link Boxee Box. This was an unmitigated disaster. The box that was released was, by all accounts, unusable. Even now, I see constant problem reports.
This was followed by the partnership with Iomega who finally managed to stagger out with a box recently, probably 6 months late?
And whilst all of this has been going on, what has happened? The rise of the Second Screen. The sad fact is that I don't need Boxee any more, I just need something (anything) that can play a wide range of media formats. i.e. pretty much any media app or box out there. All of the Social stuff has moved to Tablets and Smartphones. It never really worked on the big screen.
Strangely Boxee admit as much in their blogpost. It reads as a farewell.
As for super-smart connected TVs? Oh please. I spent the 90s working on digital TV software for the likes of Philips and Toshiba. Despite all their attempts to be more, these companies have never succeeded at doing any more than shipping LCD displays. The future belongs to Android and iOS with Social EPGs in our hands controlling everything. And those Apps won't be, can't be, Boxee.
So long Boxee, and thanks for all the fish.