2009-10-27, 16:20
I love XBMC but I am missing a few minor things that would make it absolutely great.
Basically position XBMC more in the center of the universe then on the sideline being a play button for movies and music. At this point XBMC is nice but without a decent computer and a good OS behind it XBMC only offers half of what I would want from what I would expect a media center to offer.
If XBMC is to become the center of the living room then all it needs it a bit more connections to the outside world a way to really serve the consumer in its role as the interface to all forms of entertainment, recorded or by live interaction with others.
I know that certain branches of XBMC are doing the social thing already so maybe it would be good to swap code, to merge some of their developments back into the main branch. However it is done XBMC will be surpassed by other systems if it does not start working on becoming more connected to the rest of the world, relying on plugins will not do the trick... most plugins are only supported for a few months or a couple of years at most and then die due to lack of attention, real life issues or other time constraints etc.
- Access to a calendar like Google Calendar or even an Exchange accounts calendar
- Of course a mail client for both IMAP and POP3
- An form of messaging integration, like msn/aim/xmpp or something along those lines
- A way to make (video)calls directly from XBMC
- A RSS reader, think of the movies library function but now with each feed represented like a separate movie, including background art, description and so on
- A way to start external programs from XBMC starting games (not the launcher plugin but a real call to a application, minimizing XBMC and returning to previous state once the called app. is closed)
- A auto play function for inserted USB media and memory cards, showing all pictures, with of course an option to move the auto
- A way to record from a video capture card (PVR)
- A way to schedule recordings (EPG)
Basically position XBMC more in the center of the universe then on the sideline being a play button for movies and music. At this point XBMC is nice but without a decent computer and a good OS behind it XBMC only offers half of what I would want from what I would expect a media center to offer.
If XBMC is to become the center of the living room then all it needs it a bit more connections to the outside world a way to really serve the consumer in its role as the interface to all forms of entertainment, recorded or by live interaction with others.
I know that certain branches of XBMC are doing the social thing already so maybe it would be good to swap code, to merge some of their developments back into the main branch. However it is done XBMC will be surpassed by other systems if it does not start working on becoming more connected to the rest of the world, relying on plugins will not do the trick... most plugins are only supported for a few months or a couple of years at most and then die due to lack of attention, real life issues or other time constraints etc.