| A MythTV myth |
Jul. 05, 2006
Much as I like Linux and open-source software, it pains me to see someone making a big deal about it when it really doesn't deserve that much fanfare.
Take, for example, a small note about a usability test of MythTV showing that "on a scale ranging from 1 to 5, where 1 signifies not at all user-friendly and 5 very user-friendly. The results 3.79 points out of 5 shows that the vast majority feels that MythTV is quite user-friendly."
Oh dear.
No, no, that doesn't show that at all.
First, the sample size was all of seven people. I think that's just a wee bit on the low side.
Next, the study was commissioned by a Finnish company, Open Source Partners Oy. Among other things, this business is in the media and smart-house business. Clearly, they'd like to have a study that says good things about MythTV.
Companies do this all the time. Their marketing departments feel, with good reason, that if they can show a potential customer that someone liked their gadget or device, the potential customer will be more likely to buy it.
That's fine and dandy. But, what I dislike is when someone tries to promote this kind of public relations move as news. None-the-less, on Digg, this was presented as "MythTV scores high in usability test" and several hundred people have actually recommended this press-release.
This really gets in my craw for a couple of reasons.
One, is that when Microsoft does this, and they do it All The Time, the open-source community rises up and denounces their efforts for the junk that it is. I should know. I've been a leader of the pack in many of those debunking sessions.
Next, is that the study doesn't actually show what they're arguing. Read the full press release, not just the headline. Their tiny test audience was really saying: "It's OK."
There's nothing wrong with being just OK. In fact, that's how I feel about MythTV. I'd qualify it as, "OK, with lots of potential." But that's about it.
Oh, and by the way, the guy behind the MythTV code describes it as, "MythTV is a homebrew PVR [personal video recorder] project that I've been working on in my spare time. ... and is now quite useable and featureful."
I'll buy that description. It's a "homebrew" application that can be made usable, and it certainly does have a lot of good features. This is not, I repeat not, a commercially-viable program, yet. I hope it is, someday, since my search for a really good open-source PVR program is still on-going.
Anyone except a Linux expert, who also has some clues about TV 101 and has all the right hardware at hand, is going to have fits getting MythTV installed and running. But normal users who come to MythTV, thinking it will easily turn their PCs into a near-TiVo clones, are going to be sorely disappointed.
Promoting MythTV on such bogus grounds, when it really isn't ready for prime-time, doesn't do MythTV any good. This approach has backfired time and again on proprietary software. So, let's not make their mistakes in promoting open-source software, shall we?
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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