[ExtractStream] Re: My Dangerous Idea - A technical question, not a legal question

[Robert J. Seymour, Jr.]

From: sharkey@s...
> Tivo's choice of business model is fundamentally flawed. They should
> require the subscription service subscription as a condition of purchase
> the same way that enable BestBuy to sell PC's for $499.00 or whatever.
> That's a sound business model.

TiVo has made the box much less attractive for use without subscription
service since the 2.0 upgrades (new boxes have many reminders and limited
functionality, even grandfathered old boxes got the shaft [supposedly less
so in 2.5]). I suspect that Tivo may have difficulty binding the consumer
on purchase since they don't actually make or sell the boxes themselves (I
don't know the actual legal situation, but they have taken measures to try
to make sure everybody also signs up for subscriptions).

Clearly, they are trying to make the same transition the iOpener did after
the linux crowd hacked those up (for those who don't know, the iOpener was a
linux based email/web device that was sold at a loss with expected service
revenues to make up for it but ended up getting hacked by the linux
community to use as a low grade linux front end).

Regards, Robert


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