Re: Re: Tivo

[Phil Harris <phil@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

As far as Virgin's projects teams are concerned they're launched ...
It's just where and when the next stage of the rollout is going to take
place that is the question. ;-)

At the moment that seems to be a finger in the air question - just get your
name down on the 'interested' lists. :-D

Phil

Sent from another bloody fruit-based portable device...

On 6 Feb 2011, at 20:20, "Stuart Billinghurst"
<stuart@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> But do we have an estimated launch date for the Virgin-tivo boxes?
>
>
>
> Stuart.
>
>
>
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
> Phillip Harris
> Sent: 06 February 2011 18:34
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Re: Tivo
>
>
>
>
>
> *chuckle*
>
>> From my own experience I'll happily lay money that if there are
people out
> there with any device that they are using then the overwhelming
proportion
> of them will be using a very small subset of its functionality unless
they
> are actually working through a structured testing programme designed
to
> exercise all functionality.
>
> Not that I'm in any way suggesting that this is what's happened with
the
> Virgin TiVo box but I've seen this in "soft launches",
"testing programmes"
> and "public betas" that I've taken part in from companies of
widely varying
> sizes over the last 20 years where the testers are basically just your
> average end users and generally happy (even excited) to be using
something
> new. This can be done as a way of "getting something out" to
head off public
> perception of a product being late (or to hit a sensitive corporate
> milestone) whilst the developers crack on independently still trying
to get
> stuff finished...
>
> In this situation it is normal for the participants to actually spend
very
> little time exploring the product or doing much in the way of useful
testing
> and you'll find that when asked for feedback they generally report
"Yes it's
> working fine" whereas when it hits a wider audience and people
really start
> to use it (in ways that might not seem sensible or logical by any
stretch of
> the imagination but by God if it's possible to break a bit of kit
they'll
> break it and keep breaking it) then the real issues crawl out the
woodwork.
>
> I'll be completely open with you on this though - I have had my email
> address lodged with Virgin for one for quite some time (I was trying
to get
> on the trials but couldn't) but as far as I have seen there are some
pretty
> fundamental issues with the current software which I hope get resolved
very
> quickly ... once they are it should be a really great product.
>
> I completely agree though that the unit won't be the hackers delight
that
> the original TiVo box was - it's intended to be an appliance and, as
Dom
> says, you don't actually own the TiVo box so modifying it will be a
no-no -
> so if that's one of your criteria for getting it then keep on
looking...
>
> "Security super-geniuses" - I like that. :-D
>
> Phil
>
> On 6 Feb 2011, at 17:00, domdevitto wrote:
>
>> Not based on any secret or public knowledge, but I'd expect launch
to the
> unwashed masses 'real soon'. If you're interested, I'll call VM proto
and
> get yourself on the waiting list, as it's bound to be a big rush when
it's
> available to all.
>>
>> FYI, just about every other employee seems to be thoroughly
'dogfooding'
> the Tivo at home, and it's got nothing but great reviews.
>>
>> And no, I'd also expect the device to not be 'yours', and
tinkering with
> the innards to be a breach of the Telco act., and the people that deal
with
> this kind of stuff at Virgin are security super-geniuses.
>>
>> Dom
>> --- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
, Phillip
> Harris <phil@...> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Special as in not very many available or special as in
temperamental?
> Like
>>>> many here I was a very enthusiastic TiVo early adopter and
modifier but
> have
>>>> since moved to pure Sky+HD setup.
>>>
>>> I don't want to get my source into any trouble but Virgin had
committed
> to launching TiVo last year and did "launch" on the date
planned ...
>>>
>>> ...however, as I understand it, I don't think any paying
customers
> received a Virgin Tivo box! (The box itself is made by Cisco - Tivo
are just
> doing the middleware.) My understanding is that the launch was to an
almost
> insignificantly small number of "subscribers" (500 is the
number that I was
> told) who are subscribers because they do pay money to Virgin for
their
> service but oddly appear to (at the time of launch) all be Virgin
employees.
>>>
>>> There are a number of issues with it at the moment as far as I
am aware -
> but it's only software so it'll be easy to fix, right? ;-)
>>>
>>>> Hopefully the new Virgin TiVo is as open for modification
as the series
> 1
>>>> models were.
>>>
>>> *chuckle* Expect to be disappointed here!
>>>
>>> The Virgin TiVo boxes are looking like being as closed as the
Sky boxes
> are - nowadays no-one can run the risk of being cavalier with content!
Also
> the Virgin boxes can be fully interrogated from the head end to ensure
that
> they are doing nothing that they shouldn't (whether that is running
> processes that they shouldn't or versions of code that they shouldn't)
and
> automatically reverted if they are.
>>>
>>> They're an appliance and not a hackers toy...
>>>
>>> Phil
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------
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>>
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>>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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