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Hewlett-Packard To Offer Linux-based Media Hub
Sammy at Palm Addict writes "According to the New York Times, Hewlett-Packard is to offer a new digital media hub based on Linux," excerpting "Hewlett-Packard will introduce a new device this fall meant to record and play back television as well as organize digital media, including photos, music and video, the company said yesterday. Hewlett already offers similar devices based on Microsoft's Windows Media Center Edition. The device, called the HP Media Hub, will be based on the Linux operating system." Since HP also sells self-branded iPods, it would be great if they'd make such a box iPod friendly.
Of course, this will not let you transfer recorded shows to other computers on the the network. MythTV is currently the only "media hub" that does not have copy protection, or give away freedoms in any way.
As was mentioned in the Linux-based portable media player thread, it makes no difference to the user whether these devices run Linux or not. You can't install any applications, you probably can't get a shell, and you can bet that HP will release the minimal amount of source that is legally required, so hacking will be frustrating.
And it looks like this device might break a record for the number of different kinds of DRM in one system...
You may want to read the comments on this story and past HP stories for all the details.
HP like IBM was a different company in the past. They were once known for their engineering, ingenuity, innovativeness, and big R&D.
Today they are becoming the walmart of the pc industry while still charging high prices. Also they made some questionable business decisions in terms of their superior products. For example killing the alpha processor because they already invested billions in the sinking Itanium to killing off the clustering in the superior Digital Unix and using a vendor to write a lower quality clustering solution for HP-UX, etc.
Also do not get me started on the calculators. They are practically non existent anymore as HP killed them off.
HP has turned into a short sighted company who makes substandard products and does not look at the long term effects.
I for one would never trust an HP printer or server made after 2001 as a result. They are just not good anymore and frankly are still expensive.
Many slashdotters who have a grudge agaisnt HP were probably former HP customers and loyalists.
http://saveie6.com/
It may be just a ploy:
Dell announces AMD based systems to get a better deal from Intel
HP announces Linux based Media Center PC to get a better deal from Microsoft.
Happens every so often...