XBMC is being renamed to Kodi

in code on 2014-08-01 19:19 (#3S6)

Version 14 of XBMC, the popular HTPC software, is changing its name to "Kodi" to further distance itself from its Xbox origins.

The renaming announcement further explains their reasons:

Six years have passed since the Xbox Media Center became XBMC, and simply put, "XBMC" fits less now than it did even in 2008. The software only barely runs on the original Xbox, and then only because some clever developers are still hacking on that platform. It has never run on the Xbox 360 or Xbox One.

Beyond the nonsensical nature of the software's name, there is a secondary issue. Because "XBMC" was originally based on the name Xbox, the developers of the software (that's us) have never had any sort of legal control over the use of its name, which has resulted in a whole slew of problems.

Just Great (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-08-01 19:32 (#2RF)

Throw away your years of branding and reputation. That's what open source needs, more confusing nonsensical unneeded rebranding to another nonsense word. How many of these projects must we chase down every time we revisit them in a couple of years? Usually there's at least a valid legal reason, but this?

And without RTFA I don't believe that second paragraph. XBMC isn't tied to the Xbox name just because it originated that way. Has MS even hinted at a problem?

Case in point; I'm writing this and have already forgotten the awkward meaningless new project name. :(

Re: Just Great (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-08-01 20:02 (#2RH)

In TFA there is a bit more. They want to expand it from "Media Center" to "Entertainment Center", and seems they thought "while we're making changes, let's dump the Xbox part too". While the new name isn't as catchy, at least it is less awkward to say.

The real problem is that logo. It looks like something targeted to little kids. "We arent quite there yet" is very generous.

Re: Just Great (Score: 2, Insightful)

by bryan@pipedot.org on 2014-08-01 20:11 (#2RJ)

It looks like something targeted to little kids.

And "Xbox" isn't targeted towards little kids?

Re: Just Great (Score: 2, Interesting)

by skarjak@pipedot.org on 2014-08-01 21:23 (#2RK)

I am puzzled by that comment. You do realize the average owner of an Xbox is older than 30... right? Or do you still think gaming is something kids do with their friends in the basement?

Read this: www.theesa.com/facts/

The "little kids" part of your comment is particularly off-base. Most of their marketing is targeting young adults or people in their thirties. Not surprising considering the kind of games they offer.

Re: Just Great (Score: 2, Insightful)

by bryan@pipedot.org on 2014-08-01 22:36 (#2RP)

Sorry... As a 33 year old addicted to a few computer-based video games myself (Starcraft, Warcraft, SimCity, etc), I did not realize that those "older-age-gamer" stats extended to some console systems as well.

I personally have never owned an Xbox, or know anyone that has, so my only impression of them come from some of the TV advertisements that I have seen such as this one that depicts a number of families playing the games. In these official ads by Microsoft, aside from a few parents, the average age appears to be somewhere in the 10-12 range. Perhaps these family friendly ads full of youngsters where mainly a stab at Nintendo's Wii successes and not at the general population of actual users of the console. Forgive my unfair generalizations.

Re: Just Great (Score: 1)

by skarjak@pipedot.org on 2014-08-02 03:27 (#2RR)

Microsoft's infatuation with the Kinect was an unfortunate time. By that point in the console generation, they seemed to think they had won over Sony and that the "core gamer" audience would be loyal to them no matter what. As you say, they were really chasing the Wii crowd with that thing. I'd say those kinect ads may also have been targeted at fathers who owned the system and may want something that would allow them to play with their kids.

Most of the Xbox's collection of games is composed of first and third person shooters, action games and sports games, with a significant fraction of those shooters having an M rating. Not to say their games are very mature, they have that tendency that many game companies have of thinking gory = mature, but I'd say it's fair to say most parents wouldn't want a kid under 10 to be playing too many Xbox games.

Microsoft's consoles have a reputation of being "bro" consoles, if anything. The violence is a big part of the appeal for that demographic.

I assumed you were someone speaking out of their ass about gaming being a children's hobby (as I've seen happen many times) so I apologize if I was too harsh.

Re: Just Great (Score: 1, Insightful)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-08-01 21:41 (#2RM)

Uh, going from Media Center to Entertainment Center isn't an expansion. It's a contraction, and a severe one. Media hold a LOT more than entertainment vehicles, from textbooks to video courses to histories to family archives to god damn NEWS.

They are making the project a lot less valuable, flexible, and appealing all around. Not the end of the world, but an unnecessary dumb move. Not that I liked the old name either. :)

Re: Just Great (Score: 2, Insightful)

by axsdenied@pipedot.org on 2014-08-03 02:06 (#2RT)

It is just a name change. Your post sounds like they are removing features which they are not.Also entertainment centre is more fitting than media centre. I doubt many people are using XBMC to read textbooks or news for example. I don't mean news ticker but properly sitting in front of your TV and reading news on it. There are much better ways for doing that.

Re: Just Great (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-08-03 05:40 (#2RV)

I know, and that's exactly what I'm talking about -- the name change.

"Media" means everything. "Entertainment" means a small subset of disposable bullshit. They've painted themselves into a ghetto of irrelevance.

If everything you do with your computer and television is "entertainment", good for you. Some of us want to use them for lots more than that. Of course the product hasn't changed much, yet; that's hardly the point of the subject. And what you call your project is how you think of your project which is what that project will become.

It's like purposely calling one of your children "the dumb one".

The logo isn't final (Score: 1)

by venkman@pipedot.org on 2014-08-02 17:07 (#2RS)

The announcement says it's not the final logo. That is a crappy name though.

I never knew that (Score: 1)

by alioth@pipedot.org on 2014-08-08 13:16 (#2SA)

I never knew the X was to do with the Xbox, I first heard of XBMC when people started using it on the Raspberry Pi, and naturally I thought the X meant X11 like many other unix-based graphical things.