Robotica Wrote:I guess, this is great news for XBMC users regarding Intel GPU's and AMD/ATI (porting back used video-drivers and VAAPI support) and flash 10.1 playback in Linux....
....if that stuff gets opened up. You never know what things the Boxee people agreed to in order to finally ship this thing.
Intel's GMA500 driver was closed source (or had closed parts) prior to the Boxee box, and something tells me the Boxee folks don't have enough swing to force Intel to force PowerVR to allow Intel to open up that driver.
Considering how the Boxee box changed from Tegra to something else "at the last minute," I feel like we will be lucky if this thing really has a open source base (aka at a driver level).
You never know- maybe backed into a corner after choosing initially an underwhelming platform the Boxee folks maybe had to accept some value compromises to actually get a product out the door. Happens all the time.
I am not saying its a guarantee that the Boxee box is filled with locked down tech, but at the same time I think its dangerous for everyone to assume that since Boxee is involved (and Boxee is a supportive daughter project of XBMC) the whole thing will be open and we will have XBMC on there in a week.
Usually anything involving Flash is not open, and as I said that Intel driver is not open. Someone like IBM, Dell, or HP have the leverage to demand opneness- Boxee lacks that leverage. They needed the cheapest box possible that would play Boxee, and that might be a closed box. The other cheapest boxes in the market are.
This box is it- Boxee's shot. If this thing fails, Boxee fails.
Who knows what they have agreed to (especially after a last minute hardware switch) to make sure they actually got their shot?
We will soon know.