Over at NewsForge, Jay Lyman does a good job of explaining why HPs Media Hub, a Linux media system, came to nothing.
He also talks with some analysts and people in the business about why Linux media centers havent appeared.
Thats all well and good, but Lyman doesnt ask the question I want to know the answer to: Why dont we have a good Linux Media Center PC program?
So what if businesses dont support one yet; this is open source. Wheres the good free software media center?
Windows has one, the Mac is getting one. What about us?
Let me spell out what Im looking for.
I want a drop-in replacement for Windows Media Center 2003.
I want something that will not only let me watch DVD or video files on my computer, I want a program that will also serve as a DVR (digital video recorder), a la TiVo, and that will enable me to watch videos, no matter what their native format, from my networks hard drives on my Sony KD-34XBR960 34-inch HDTV monitor via a D-Link MediaLounge DSM-320 Wireless Media Player.
If youre thinking to yourself, “But WMC cant do that,” youre right. It cant.