Logitech employees, my comments come from someone who is glad you acquired slim devices. while i am sad to see sean and dean go, and see no gain by their leaving, i think in the long run logitech will create a group of products that will get cheaper and better due to logitechs mass market ability and focus.
having said that, i do think you need to reconsider the current paradigm. i should preface myself by saying i'm NOT a developer, but i do represent the 'average joe' b/c while i have learned a lot since i bought a SB2 5 years ago or so, i share my music with many people and so i see first hand how they react and its much like how i reacted (which i remember well anyway). i support the idea logitech has to be targeted to be useful FIRST to the average joe, and second to the advanced user. i support the move to SQLite and to being less resource intensive overall. i support the idea to have SC AVOID issues and common problems it will come across in the marketplace. ie. it should be the GOAL of SC to adapt and change where it makes sense to, rather than proselytize and martyr itself on philosophical points. in other words, "go with the flow" more or less, recognize de facto standards and marketplace conditions. now, what should logitech do to accomplish these goals? i have two suggestions, and i think they would help logitech tremendously: *1.* setup SC so that it "reports back" to you all at the mothership everything about a specifc users given installation. ie. what options are being used and how are they set, (were default values changed? to what? etc...) what plugins, what formats and how many files, what version of SC, log files and errors and dropped streams, basically ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you can think of. (maybe even a "last.fm" or winamp style "orgler" for song listings to be part of an online community presence, but thats a tangental and separate idea) you should not only use this info to aid development, but you should present it in aggregate to all of us, (which wouldn't violate an given users privacy) maybe even in a page in SC itself! it would go a long way in showing "what the majority do" and help 3rd party development. i would suggest it be "opt out" but i am sure the majority here would say it should be opt in. however, it would be good to have the opt out folks at least reported by SC as "opt outers" so we know how many of that type there are, altho there should be a way to totally disable it for those installs that AREN'T internet capable. *2.* this next idea is even bigger, and is the paradigm shift i alluded to. i think logitech needs to sell a SC piece of HARDWARE. it makes no sense to me that so much development costs go into SC only to give it away for free, on a variety of platforms and permutations that only make supporting the SC clients MORE difficult than it needs to be. what exactly am i suggesting? a small silent energy efficient box, running linux, with SC on it. all that would still be open source, but it could be streamlined, maybe even rewritten in something OTHER than Perl. one version could do SC only, while another could do SC and a client (like SBR or SB2) combined; the obvious benefit being no router, internet or even computer is necessary to use that one. both could use a SSD and could boot nearly instantly. it could be user upgradeable, like for ram or wireless card or processor or SSD. the linux and SC could be in firmware, or if installed to the SSD, the FW could install fresh linux/SC to a new SSD via web install from a logitech repo. it would be reachable via web interface (or SBC) and connect to your router via dhcp (default) or static ip. it would have usb ports and other card ports for playing music attached to it which is automatically scanned. since it would operate on top of a full linux OS, it could be configured to map network drives to get music from elsewhere on your network. the linux OS itself could have a webui app for basic config options (like mapping drives) for non-techy types, maybe via SC itself. the SC device would be constantly connected to logitech, (unless users opt out), and logitech could update it, troubleshoot it, monitor it, all remotely. it could be controlled or connected to SN, and a community social networking type of site. what i am talking about is a turnkey solution. u could add a CD ripper to it, but that should be optional. it could do UPNP and DLNA and serve out not just music, but video to any (logitch) media adapters. maybe even an ipod hookup, (and i hate ipods, but u get my drift, any such device) once SC8.0 is out logitech should concentrate on this device, and should devote the majority of resources to it, rather than to SC development for various operating systems. in other words, "new" SC releases appear on it first, (including betas) in its new language and streamlined development environment, and later ported over to other OS's in "major release" versions only. surely this would aid in development of SC, since it would still be open but in a more "definite" environment in a less clunky language. the benefits of all this are that people who don't like or even use computers could use this device. even people who do like computers could use this without needing a computer turned on. it would be a LOT easier for logitech to support and it would create another revenue stream. if you can sell a transporter, for $1000 or whatever, which is insane and ridiculous, then you could sell this, probably for less, and reach a lot more people. goodbye problems with peoples computers and networks, you at logitech could "get in" the device and figure it out remotely, if there were even any issues, which btw there wouldn't be on the "combo server/client" unit. (you could make it work with RF remotes too, like the harmony and/or add RF to the SBC to make networking totally unnecessary) one more thing, it would be PORTABLE. thats no small thing. i could see it in cars, used at friends, etc... i look at my SB2 and wonder why i need to have a computer turned on to use it with local music. it simply no longer makes sense to do that. so this was a long post, but i really think these two ideas would help logitech out tremendously. what say you logitech? -- MrSinatra www.lion-radio.org using: sb2 & sbc (my home) / sbr (parent's home) - w/sc 7.3.4b - win xp pro sp3 ie8 - 3.2ghz / 2gig ram - 1tb wd usb2 raid1 - d-link dir-655 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MrSinatra's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2336 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=66745 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
