2012年1月9日 星期一

Canonical outs Ubuntu TV: Brave or stupid?

Last week we covered the news that Canonical would announce a new Ubuntu concept device at CES. At the time we believed it would be a smartphone or tablet,Overview description of rapid tooling processes. possibly made by LG.Product information for Sell electronicplasticmoulds from China! Everyone in the ET bunker was buzzing with the possibilities of such a device, especially when paired with — perhaps — an Ubuntu-based ultrabook. The smiles that had been pasted on our faces quickly melted away this morning, however, when it emerged that this “top secret” project is actually an Ubuntu TV — an ill-fated attempt to launch Canonical into the realm of commercial consumer electronics, and seemingly the product of delusions of grandeur.

Updated: There’s now a video of Ubuntu TV at the bottom of the story.

First, the facts about Ubuntu TV. This is a new build of the open-source software, optimized for television resolutions. Included in the feature list is a PVR for live TV, plus integration with cable and satellite providers to display show schedules that allow you to queue up recordings.This billabongboardshort has the following technological features: As well as options for viewing your favorite programs, Ubuntu TV comes with a “box office built right in” that gives you access to movie rentals, YouTube, and other online media outlets. The software is geared to allow you to use your Android device or iPhone as a remote, which also ties into the Ubuntu Software Center. You will be able to download apps right to your TV that will expand functionality. The front end interface, as you can probably tell from the screenshot, is an optimized-for-TV-resolutions version of the hotly debated Unity UI.

How in the world does Canonical hope to establish a foothold in a smart television market that’s already insanely crowded? Right now, you can choose from Google TV, the Boxee Box, Apple TV, XBMC, Plex, and myriad others to create “smart” experiences on your television. There is a reason that not one company has broken away from the pack in regards to media convergence on televisions: It’s a bad interactive platform! When you sit and watch TV, you want to consume, not have to navigate menus and options that make it like work. If the interaction is fun, like Microsoft’s approach with Kinect and Metro UI, then you might have something.

Ubuntu TV is not innovation on Canonical’s part. Rather, it’s part of a disjointed plan based on a poor assumption that Ubuntu is more popular than it really is. Ever since the release of Unity, users have been jumping ship because they can see the writing on the wall. Canonical is spreading into markets that it really has no business being in unless it can bring something unique to the table. If it had announced some novel approach to viewing television, I might think otherwise — but the fact is this announcement is just another yawner.

Canonical would have had me at hello if it was announcing an ultrabook. I don’t want or need an Ubuntu smartphone, nor do I obviously desire Ubuntu TV. Give me a device that is portable and has incredible battery life, and you can count on my business.Credit is not an issue with our offshoremerchantaccounts. I don’t need more bloat in my life than I already have.

Ubuntu TV is destined to be put into the same bracket that Google TV and the Boxee Box has: mediocre technology that has niche appeal and nothing more. Users who want Ubuntu on their TVs already have it, in the form of a computer and a HDMI cable.Thank you for visiting our newly improved DIY chickencoop website!

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