Selling hardware bundled with XBMC?
#16
Sure there is. We can yell at them and call them nasty names.

This is the internet, after all!
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#17
XBMC team ..

We are looking to load xbmc ( rather our distro of xbmc much like red hat version of linux ) and sell hardware .. what ways can we as a company obtain ( Official ) support from xbmc team ?

Appreciate your reply
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#18
Please share your plans with us via email. You can find our contact info here.

TheUni
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#19
You could just get the Dlink Boxee Box. it is as close to a plug n play XBMC your going to find. Its not officially released yet but test boxes have been popping up.


http://www.dlink.com/boxeebox
6 XBMC SYSTEMS
2 Old Xboxes
=8 XBMC clients
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#20
Gamester17 Wrote:This has been discussed before in these threads with "selling" tag:
http://forum.xbmc.org/tags.php?tag=selling

Again, even if our approval/consent was given, re-branded or not, since XBMC is a free software, third-paries may not actually sell GPL software, you may only sell the hardware and the distribution/packaging service that you provide, which may or may not include a support contract with your users.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html

Sorry, I am a bit confused by this statement. It doesn't seem to sit with the actual wording and philosophy of the GPL

My understanding of the GPL is that I am free charge what I want when redistributing the software. The only limit I have on this charge is that if I distribute only binaries I MUST give the source at no extra cost. This has nothing to do with being a third party. The freedom afforded to me by the GPL means I am free to commercially exploit the software I received under the GPL, as long as I don't limited the freedoms of those I sell it to.

Thus, I could sell my modifications to the XBMC for $100, but I would be obliged to supply the source with the modified binaries. In fact, under the GPL i am allowed to compile and sell say tonights XBMC nightly build, as long as I provide the source with my sale (assuming everything I compile is under GPL). Of course, as a long term business this makes very little sense.

So, selling XBMC along with hardware is perfectly legal under the GPL (see the millions of routers shipping with Linux) as long as I provide source. There is no fudging with "selling the packaging" or anything like that.

However, there is one point that hasn't been mentioned. If you are going to distribute XBMC on hardware or in any way for profit, you should bear in mind that many codecs provided (e.g. the most popular ones) are patent encumbered. XBMC is (i'm guessing) a not-for-profit effort. The moment you start making alot of money I wouldn't be surprised to see MPEG-LA or some or "licensing group" beating down your door asking for fees. The same reason why Fedora or Ubuntu don't ship with mp3 or mpeg4 support by default is pretty much the same reason you can't sell hardware with such support (makes me wonder about Boxee frankly)
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#21
Correct, though clearly from a business perspective it's silly to try and sell the application, as anyone that you sell it to can then distribute to anyone else at no cost.

Thus many companies either sell a service or hardware, rather than attempting to sell the opensource software itself. That way their customers can distribute the software to their hearts content - the company still makes money as they supply something of value over and above the software itself.

Cheers,
Jonathan
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#22
Hi Everyone,

I have started to offer a preconfigured Acer Revo on my website http://www.data-pro.co.uk/latest-product...-revo.html

I am just checking that I have no legal technicalities. I state that the program is open source, also I am not charging for the software, merely the hardware and my time installing ubuntu and xbmc so people who are not technically minded can enjoy it stright out of the box.
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#23
please add a link or two and explain that we are gpl. in particular you have to make it clear where they can obtain the sources. simply having an easily spottable link to xbmc.org would achieve all of these really. other than those, all good.
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#24
Hi Everyone,

I have started to offer a preconfigured Acer Revo on my website http://www.data-pro.co.uk/latest-product...-revo.html

I am just checking that I have no legal technicalities. I state that the program is open source, also I am not charging for the software, merely the hardware and my time installing ubuntu and xbmc so people who are not technically minded can enjoy it stright out of the box.
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#25
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=37934 Did you read this thread? particularly post #7 and its responses?

All your legal questions are answered already in this thread.

As for live tv... there are many existing solutions for xbmc. check out the pvr-testing2 branch. But as its in development, I probably wouldn't be rolling it out across a hospital or similar.

Personally I think xbmc would be your best option (by far) rather than mythtv. But I'm sure youd get a different response in the mythtv forum.

EDIT: damn, just wasted 5 minutes responding to a bot, and linking him to the post he stole... im an idiot
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#26
Hi,
I like to sell a Fanless Aluminium HTPC with XBMC.
Is it ok to call it somethink like:

MEDIAPLAYER
powered by XBMC


?
Bye Sidekick
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#27
You probably can't use "XBMC" directly in the product name, but there's nothing stopping you letting users know it runs XBMC in the description of the product etc.
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#28
jmarshall Wrote:You probably can't use "XBMC" directly in the product name, but there's nothing stopping you letting users know it runs XBMC in the description of the product etc.

Hi,

I tought about something like this:
Image

This would be not OK?
Bye Sidekick
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#29
is it legal for a company to purchase bluray movies and screen it to its customer freely? is it legal if a person create backups of its bluray movie on hd? im not sure about bluray term and condition.
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#30
publicENEMY Wrote:is it legal for a company to purchase bluray movies and screen it to its customer freely? is it legal if a person create backups of its bluray movie on hd? im not sure about bluray term and condition.

Ask a lawyer if you don't know and are thinking about doing this as a company. Anything else would be silly.
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