I can understand the original poster's frustration, as I've had more
than my fair share of AlienBBC problems, on XP and then Linux, but I
don't believe expressing them in that way is likely to help anyone,
least of all the original poster.

I've had similar thoughts too, in the heat of my frustration, but once
you realise that...

a) No support for RealAudio is offered by SlimDevices out of the box
(and to do so would add costs to you, the customer)

b) AlienBBC is free and is the result of some very talented and
generous people just trying to offer the results of their not
inconsiderable efforts to others.

...I expected to get as much support as I'd paid for :)

The actual help I got though, in both cases, was above and beyond this
to a *huge* degree, no doubt helped by the fact I didn't rant at the
only people who were really capable of helping ;)

I think part of the 'problem' is that AlienBBC is so damn awesome when
it's working, the frustration when it doesn't is that much worse!

Yes, of course, it's installation process is not beyond constructive
criticism, but I bet the developers are as aware, if not more so, of
those potential criticisms. It's hard though offering the fruits of
one's personal labours to others and then trying to provide the support
you want to, whilst juggling work, life, families and fun. I know!

I personally feel that the AlienBBC functionality could be a big
marketing plus to Slim Devices, especially in the UK. Maybe it should
become more of a core part of Slimserver? It would be a total killer
app if the ability to record the stream could be integrated too
(hint!).

Slim Devices are doing something very different to almost anyone out
there, leveraging the power of open source and offering some amazing
functionality. It's both their power and their Achile's heel in my
view.

The power is in the skills of the developers, and the versatility and
flexibility of the software. The vulnerability is the 'geeky' nature it
can appear to bring, along with the occasional problem.

I think of it as being part of a community and the occasional problem
is just a learning experience with an opportunity to help provide
feedback to further help others and hopefully improve things for future
releases.

Andy (who now has stylus cramp from typing this on a PDA!)


-- 
Andrew L. Weekes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew L. Weekes's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=573
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=22467

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