[OT] Media Centre OS

[Benjamin J. Weiss]

From: "Edward" <edward at tripled.iinet.net.au>
> I quote from an online magazine article I was reading:
>
> "Linux can do everything Media Centre can do, but no one’s gone out and
> made a dedicated distro that does all this, and has a nice
> consumer-friendly interface. Sure the installation will be harder -- 
> much harder -- but there’s plenty of PC tech people with the savvy to
> sort out that end of the bargain."
>
> Do you guys know of anyone thinking or contemplating doing this with
> Linux? Microsoft Media Centre can only be bundled with certified PC's,
> meaning I could basically never sell one, because my company is too
> small fry for Microsoft, but what if there was a Linux distro that is
> *JUST* set up for media content?
>
> If no-one is doing this already, what do you think interest will be in a
> project like this?

I hate to rain on your parade, but I doubt that this will happen, for the
same reasons that Fedora doesn't ship with DVD-viewing software or MP3
codecs.  People have copyrights or patents or whatever, and if a U.S. based
distro had that stuff, they'd get sued.  M$ has the deep pockets to pay for
those royalties, open source doesn't (AFAIK).

Ben