The GPLv3 was released today – is TiVo doomed?

Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 by MegaZone

Yep, the GNU General Public License, version 3, was released today. The GPL is the license that governs a large proportion of open source projects, under its (until today) current v2 form. This includes the Linux kernel.

Of course, one of the big buzz topics surrounding the v3 license is that it has provisions aimed very deliberately at TiVo and the ‘TiVoization‘ of free software. The Free Software Foundation, which issues the GPL, has not been happy with the kind of commercial use TiVo has put GPLv2 software to. Specifically, Richard Stallman isn’t happy about it, and he’s basically the embodiment of the FSF.

So the GPLv3 is bad news for TiVo, right? Wrong.

This release means pretty much nothing as far as TiVo goes. I’ve written about this in detail before, but I’ve already seen a couple of posts today talking about the impact on TiVo so I thought I’d jump in here again.

To summarize what I’ve said before, TiVo uses the Linux kernel. The Linux kernel is licensed under the GPLv2. NOT GPLv3. The release of the GPLv3 today changes nothing about this.

The Linux kernel development is basically controlled by Linus Torvalds, who originally created it. Linus is on record as being unhappy with the provisions in the GPLv3. He is ‘happier’ with the final version than he was with the early drafts, but not ‘happy’. He’s said that he doesn’t expect to migrate the Linux kernel from v2 to v3. It *could* happen, but there would have to be a very good reason. The most compelling reason could be if Sun puts the OpenSolaris code out under the GPLv3, which they are considering doing. There are a number of features in Solaris that would be very useful in Linux, and vice-versa, but code from one cannot be used in the other as the licenses are not compatible. If Solaris moves to GPLv3, that would be major incentive to move Linux to GPLv3 so that code could be shared.

However, it isn’t a simple matter of just switching the licenses. The Linux kernel is made up from code contributed by thousands of different contributors. *Every one* of those contributors would need to be tracked down and contacted to get their approval to re-license their code under GPLv3. Contributors range from individuals to giant corporations like IBM. And some of the people have died, so their estates need to approve the switch. Inevitably, some of the code will not be able to make the move – the contributor cannot be contacted, or just refuses. Any such code would need to be replaced with brand new code released under the new license.

Clearly, this is not something that will happen overnight.

Meanwhile, even if the code makes the migration, any code released under the GPLv2 remains under the GPLv2 for perpetuity. The license cannot be revoked. So TiVo can continue to use the v2 code indefinitely. If and when the code migrates to v3, TiVo could grab the last generation of v2 code and continue to use it forever if they wished. TiVo isn’t on the bleeding edge of Linux kernel development as it is, there is no need to move to the latest as most of the features added don’t impact the type of use they use it for.

But let’s assume for a moment that the Linux kernel does migrate to GPLv3 and, for some reason, TiVo cannot continue to use the GPLv2 code. What then?

Well, they could move to the GPLv3 code and comply with the new license, of course. It can be done, but it would require changing the way the system is architected, most likely.

That’s not the only option. Linux isn’t the only platform available. There are BSD Unix platforms like FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD. All of these are licensed under the BSD License, which is much more permissive than the GPL when it comes to commercial applications. And there are commercial alternatives, like VxWorks.

Another alternative would be a complete architecture change – to Java/OCAP. TiVo has already developed Java-based software to run on OCAP-compatible cable DVRs. That same code base could be evolved to run on a standalone box. You could have a new platform with a Java-friendly CPU as a dedicated platform for the software.

In other words – don’t worry about it. This is unlikely to have any impact on TiVo. And even if it does, it won’t be any time soon, and it won’t be a disaster.

Life continues apace.

Posted in General Tech, TiVo | 4 Comments

Is Netflix still working on Yet Another Box?

Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 by MegaZone

There have been on-again, off-again rumors for a long time now that Netflix is working on their own set-top box to handle electronic movie rentals. These were reheated after their partnership with TiVo apparently flamed out. Now Engadget is reporting that Netflix has been conducting focus groups with two new STBs. The STBs act as clients for their streaming ‘Watch Now’ service. One is a $50 box with basic connections, the other is $100 with HDMI and component to handle HD content, both connect to Ethernet or WiFi to stream the content.

While geeks like to talk about how media is dead, and downloads will be the future – and I agree in general – physical media is going to stick around for a while. Music has increasingly shifted to download services, like iTunes, but video is a different story because the files are so much larger. And HD video is another story entirely. Then there is storage. You can have over 10,000 songs on a 40GB drive – but it may only hold 1 or 2 full HD movies. So disc rentals from Netflix, and others, won’t be going away for several years yet.

In the long run, I do agree that content will become digital data for download. We’re just starting to move in that direction now, but it will take a while for bandwidth and storage to mature to support wide use. Still, it is important for companies like Netflix to get out in front of the changes and be prepared for them. They’ve started with their streaming service – but that’s tied to a PC. Most people agree that to be a real player you need to get the content on a TV so people can watch it on their big screen in the living room. And that effectively means some kind of STB.

But do we really need Yet Another Box? I don’t need YAB to connect to my AV system. I think Netflix would be better off partnering with existing vendors that already sell STBs – TiVo, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Linksys, Sling Media, etc. (I’d list Apple, but I doubt they’d allow a 3rd party on Apple TV to compete with ITMS.) Netflix is a fine company, but they’re a service company and NOT a hardware company. Leave the hardware up to someone who is already doing it right and focus on getting your service on more platforms.

Posted in NetFlix | Leave a comment

Another Amazon Unbox 99-cent rental sale

Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 by MegaZone

OK, it looks like this is something Amazon Unbox is going to do every weekend – they did it last weekend too, but I forgot to post, sorry.

This week it is Night at the Museum, Epic Movie: Unrated, Casino Royale, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima, and The Good German. (It figures – I rented Flags and Letters this week and haven’t had time to watch them yet. They’re still on my S3, waiting.)

Posted in Amazon Unbox, TiVo | Leave a comment

TiVo Blog makes PC World’s ’100 Blogs We Love’ List

Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 by MegaZone

TiVo Blog is on PC World’s ‘100 Blogs We Love‘ list, under ‘Specialty Tech Sites‘.

Tivo Blog: Obsessed with your TiVo? You have a friend in Alex Raiano.

Major congratulations to Alex! TiVoBlog.com is a blog I’ve followed for a long time (apparently since November 17th, 2004 – damn, time flies) and I’ve had a number of exchanges with Alex over the past few years. He’s always been a great guy and he runs a top notch blog. It is great to see him getting the attention he deserves – even if I am a bit jealous. ;-)

If you don’t already read TiVoBlog.com, and you’re reading this, you probably should.

Posted in Blogs, TiVo | 2 Comments

Two TiVo offers – Free box from Best Buy and lifetime transfer

Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 by MegaZone

There are two special offers out there.

The first is off TiVo’s homepage. If you sign up for high-speed Internet at any Best Buy retail location (not online), you’ll receive a free 80-hour Series2. Or you can pick up an 80-hour Series2DT for $49.99 (after rebate). And, either way, you’ll also pick up a free TiVo 802.11g WiFi USB adapter – a $64.99 MSRP value. And if you sign up before July 31st, 2007 you’ll also get 3 months of TiVo service free. See all of the details and requirements on this page. You need to print out this page and bring it to the store.

The other offer went out via email to some TiVo subscribers. If you have a TiVo with Product Lifetime Service that was activated prior to June 15, 2003, you can transfer it to a new 80-hour Series2DT for $299 total. It sounds, to me, like an offer primarily designed to get people still using old Series1 lifetime units to jump to the S2DT. With all of the cheap, or outright free, offers on the S2 and S2DT over time, anyone on monthly with an S1 has had plenty of opportunities to simply swap it for a newer box. But those with lifetime have had a reason to keep using their old box. There have been limited opportunities to transfer to the S2 and S3 when those products first shipped.

While early-adopters of the S2 would also be eligible (the S2 first shipped, via AT&T, in late 2001), I don’t see this as being as appealing to those users. The S2 has all of the software features the S2DT has, and the first S2 boxes actually had decent performance. Maybe there is some incentive as the first first (1xx) series units had USB1.1, which could slow down network transfers a bit, but that’s not huge. And the second spin (2xx) series units have USB2.0. The only things really missing are the second analog tuner and the built-in Ethernet port. This reinforces my view that it is aimed at S1 owners.

Getting people to switch to a newer unit gives TiVo the chance to generate additional revenue from those users. Aside from the fee (which isn’t bad, IMHO, for a new box and the lifetime transfer – that’s what lifetime cost by itself before it was dropped), the newer boxes support services such as Unbox which generate additional revenue.

So, if you have an old S1, or even an early S2, with lifetime, and you want to jump up to the S2DT, the details are here.

Posted in TiVo | Leave a comment