Facebook Bans Kodi Device Sales • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook Bans Kodi Device Sales

#11

Post by aslkdjaslkdj1 » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 10:35 PM UTC

LeoPanthera wrote: post #3

"Kodi" is an open source media player. Nothing more or less. The problem comes because people sell boxes preloaded with Kodi and plugins that make one-click piracy possible. Unfortunately the association that people make is now "Kodi = Piracy", which is very wrong.

Unfortunately the piracy users for kodi now far out-strip the non-piracy users and so kodi gets de-facto associated with piracy. Just like mp3 CDs and bit torrent, when the single biggest mass market appeal for your product is piracy then the product gets associated with piracy.

Re: Facebook Bans Kodi Device Sales

#12

Post by arkitaip » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 10:40 PM UTC

fipple wrote: post #2

All the fuss about Kodi makes me think I should get a box. Is it worth it?

Kodi has one of the most arcane UIs I've used in years. Also, you need to find and set up plugins to get streaming going and this is a complicated process. The streams can be good but not worth all the hassle.

Re: Facebook Bans Kodi Device Sales

#13

Post by mindslight » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 10:41 PM UTC

Does anybody think these clowns are actually going to be around in a decade? I can understand the business desire to censor political minorities to please the majority, but how does doing enforcement for the content cartels generate any goodwill from their users?

It will be interesting to see what happens when their surveillance archives go off to the highest bidder (and are subsequently leaked).

Re: Facebook Bans Kodi Device Sales

#14

Post by NullPrefix » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 10:41 PM UTC

aslkdjaslkdj1 wrote: post #11

LeoPanthera wrote: post #3

"Kodi" is an open source media player. Nothing more or less. The problem comes because people sell boxes preloaded with Kodi and plugins that make one-click piracy possible. Unfortunately the association that people make is now "Kodi = Piracy", which is very wrong.

Unfortunately the piracy users for kodi now far out-strip the non-piracy users and so kodi gets de-facto associated with piracy. Just like mp3 CDs and bit torrent, when the single biggest mass market appeal for your product is piracy then the product gets associated with piracy.

Is WinAmp a piracy player?

Re: Facebook Bans Kodi Device Sales

#15

Post by ozmbie » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 10:44 PM UTC

eltoozero wrote: post #10

m-p-3 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can easily install it on an existing computer and try it out if you don't want to spend money right away.

Kodi is what used to be XBMC, once it was obvious a “10ft” interface was desirable beyond the needs of OG XBox hackers it was revised to run on PC (XBox is 99% a PC anyway). Eventually nobody knew why it was called XBox Media Center when nobody really used it for the XBox. So they changed the name to KODI because it vaguely resembles REWIND STOP PLAY icons: | | K O D I So that’s a little history, but I still mourn th…

Modding my xbox to run XBMC and play DivX rips is what got me into Home Theatre in the first place.

I now use an AppleTV 4K to stream UHD movies from a NAS. But the concept is the same.

Re: Facebook Bans Kodi Device Sales

#16

Post by drexlspivey » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 10:47 PM UTC

TIL that facebook has a marketplace.

Re: Facebook Bans Kodi Device Sales

#17

Post by Spivak » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 10:47 PM UTC

LeoPanthera wrote: post #3

"Kodi" is an open source media player. Nothing more or less. The problem comes because people sell boxes preloaded with Kodi and plugins that make one-click piracy possible. Unfortunately the association that people make is now "Kodi = Piracy", which is very wrong.

And BitTorrent is a P2P file sharing program but it doesn't suddenly make the verb 'torrenting' mean anything other than piracy.

Kodi is a fantastic piece of software and it's a shame that their brand is being tarnished but c'est la vie when that's the biggest practical use case for your program. There's no sense for anyone other than the XBMC foundation to fight the river on this one.

What I would do if I was the project lead:

- Pick a new name or go back to XBMC since it still has plenty of mindshare.

- Implement a proper store for plug-ins and require signing for them to run a la Firefox.

- Let users sideload plug-ins by running in 'unbranded mode' and aggressively litigate people using your trademark for unlocked devices.

- Partner with manufacturers for an authorized device part of your store.

- Work with content providers to add official apps to your store a la Chromecast.

Re: Facebook Bans Kodi Device Sales

#18

Post by mindslight » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 10:48 PM UTC

eltoozero wrote: post #10

m-p-3 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can easily install it on an existing computer and try it out if you don't want to spend money right away.

Kodi is what used to be XBMC, once it was obvious a “10ft” interface was desirable beyond the needs of OG XBox hackers it was revised to run on PC (XBox is 99% a PC anyway). Eventually nobody knew why it was called XBox Media Center when nobody really used it for the XBox. So they changed the name to KODI because it vaguely resembles REWIND STOP PLAY icons: | | K O D I So that’s a little history, but I still mourn th…

Thanks for posting that explanation - it makes the official name mildly better. Although I'll probably just keep calling it XBMC.

I had thought it must be named after someone's baby brother.

Re: Facebook Bans Kodi Device Sales

#19

Post by Zanni » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 10:50 PM UTC

mindslight wrote: post #13

Does anybody think these clowns are actually going to be around in a decade? I can understand the business desire to censor political minorities to please the majority, but how does doing enforcement for the content cartels generate any goodwill from their users? It will be interesting to see what happens when their surveillance archives go off to the highest bidder (and are subsequently leaked).

"Content cartels?" You mean copyright owners? I'm not sure the majority is on your side. A lot of folks, including me, generate copyright-protected content and are happy to see anti-piracy measures enforced. Facebook has other issues, to be sure, but I don't have a problem with this.

Re: Facebook Bans Kodi Device Sales

#20

Post by maym86 » Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 10:50 PM UTC

Funny how they can easily and quietly manage banning Kodi yet stuggle publicly with removing blatent hate speech. Not saying they're equivalent, just that Facebook is perfectly capable of blocking things when they want to despite the free and open perception they try to create for the platform when they don't want to.