------------------------------------------------------------------------ A poll associated with this post was created, to vote and see the results, please visit http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=73698 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Question: Is third party plugins/applets important for your Squeezebox purchases ? - I won't buy any more Squeezebox products unless support for third party development is prioritized - I won't buy any more Squeezebox products unless the third party plugins I rely on is supported - I use third party plugins but I would still consider buying more Squeezebox products without them - I don't use third party plugins so they aren't important to my Squeezebox purchases ------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a classical music lover, Erland's plug-ins have become central to my daily use of my Transporter & Duet. I spent a lot of time on these forums before deciding to purchase the Transporter, and I do not regret my purchase. I have enjoyed and utilized a number of plug-ins to optimize my Squeeze experience. The developer community has been a major contributor to my satisfaction with these products. However, recently I bought a Squeezebox for my sister who lives in Stockholm. I got her all set up and running, only to have a Squeeze Server/Center software upgrade shake her confidence by changing the way her stereo works. She is totally non-technical. All she wants to do is listen to music, and have it be easy to find/listen to what she wants -- classical music mostly. The difference between her experience and mine, is that I'm not afraid to go in and muck about to get things working the way I want, but she has no interest in doing this. If it doesn't work the way she wants out of the box, she'll find another product that does. I think Logitech is stuck strategically on this point. I suspect there are FAR more people in this world like my sister than there are people like us. Ideally, you should be able to satisfy both audiences, delivering a product that delights the average user, with extensible "hooks" that support the developer community (with appropriate staffing/oversight to benefit from the synergy of joint development). But when push comes to shove, corporations follow the money. Obviously, we all believe that this is short-term thinking. The "open source" nature of the Slim Devices world was a fantastic way to bring in new ideas and creativity for future development. I doubt that Logitech feels this in their bones. Hence, not enough internal resources devoted to nurturing third-party developers. Properly utilized, the user community can and should be a creative engine for growth. The more Logitech thinks, "we can do this ourself" the more closed the opportunity becomes. It's like cutting the tail off the dog in tiny pieces. Each little bit doesn't hurt a bit... but after a while the poor dog has no tail! I can't blame Logitech for evolving away from the Slim Devices roots. But I would argue to their management that they are missing an opportunity by not investing in support for the developer community. -- HalleysComet ------------------------------------------------------------------------ HalleysComet's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=14590 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=73698 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
