[April Fool's Day] Partnership with Sony, Movie streaming Add-on unveiled
Today we are proud to announce an exciting new partnership.
In early May 2010, a representative at Sony Japan’s Home Theater and Console division expressed interest in using XBMC as a delivery platform for its newest content. After nearly a year of development, we have delivered a product that is suitable for deployment into millions of living-rooms, backed by Sony’s reputation for delivering high-quality standards-compliant hardware and software. We believe that within 3 months, we will have a new appliance on store shelves that will revolutionize the industry. The XBMC team is also excited to be a part of Sony’s Home Theater and Consoles division, where free-thinking developers are regarded highly.
What does this mean for XBMC? The sky is the limit. Combined with Sony’s impeccable reputation in tech crowds, we anticipate that the platform will be a quick success in the retail market. Sadly, the XBMC source will be closed in the future (all developers unanimously agreed to assigning a proprietary license), but we believe this is the right move going forward. As Jonathan Marshall, XBMC Foundation President put it, “While the free and open-source model worked well when we were all still in our parents’ basements, now that we’ve been showered with gifts from our new friends at Sony, we understand that it is not sustainable in the long-term; DRM is the way of the future.”
Top 10
We realize that some may see this as abandoning our principles, so we have used our new partner’s influence to secure a special treat for XBMC’s existing users. For the next year, we are able to bring you the latest box-office top-10 movies in 1080p quality, some before the Blu-Rays even hit the store shelves. The best part is, they are free of charge! Just check out the ‘Blu-Ray Movie Streamer’ plugin, available now in the XBMC add-on browser.
We understand that not everyone will agree with our decision here, but we assure you, it’s for the best. Stay tuned for more as the details unfold!
I was already to write a condemnatory post on my blog and then – duh – what day is this?
Yeah, this should have been the dead giveaway:
“The XBMC team is also excited to be a part of Sony’s Home Theater and Consoles division, where free-thinking developers are regarded highly.”
Aahahah, you really got me on this one! :-)
Nice and believable till the “Sadly, the XBMC source will be closed in the future” :D :D
DRM comment caused me to question. Well played.
Hahahaha…. Classic :)
fell for it… hartbeat rate went through the roof…
Nice tray for a first of april joke.
You had me going for a while there :) Got angry when you said you were going to close the source, and thought you’d gone mad when you said DRM is the way of the future :D Finally I got the hoax when you claimed that you’d give free 1080 streaming :D
LoL had me going
Damn you! Fell for it right up to playing the BluRay content – well done ;-D
WOW….. too bad I read this today April 2nd… and did not look at the date of the post first….. I actually started crying until I read the posts… Best April fools joke ever!
I am in the middle of chemoradiation and am feeling like shit most of the time, but this news made me feel worse than I have in months. I admit I was caught completely out by this. Thank God it was a joke.
Whoa! Hope you are feeling better now that you’ve realized what was happening!
I got soooooooo angry I nearly trashed my office :) You really got me …….. yep you really got me …….doh!!
The best bit was “Combined with Sony’s impeccable reputation in tech crowds”. I need a t-shirt with that on it.
Shit, forgot it was april fools until i read the comments!
you got me!
I just got rick rolled…by the xbmc crew.
Everything I read today is suspect. I’m about ready to turn off the PC for that day. The shit isn’t funny.
damnit! how did I fall for this!? i almost had a heart attack…. good one guys, my mouth was open!!
The true BAZINGA here is “high-quality standards-compliant hardware and software”.
Good one guys…I was really feeling terrible, but checked out the plugin started the movies and loved the song……….never going to give you up. WELL DONE!!
I’m glad you guys are still there!!
Got me. I completely forgot it was April fools. I was semi-pissed, semi-excited.
A PS3 port was sure to come. And even though Sony is evil aggressors, we know it would have been a beautiful port with full blu-ray support.
The thing that caught me off-guard was the free movies. No way the money-hungry mongols would give away free movies without some kind of compensation.
I almost cried when I read this but quickly realized today’s date.
I was had until I noticed the screenshot with Yogi Bear the Movie, I knew nobody would waste the bandwidth downloading that junk.
“Sony’s Home Theater and Consoles division, where free-thinking developers are regarded highly.”
Best line ^^ Couldn’t help cracking up hysterically there
Fantastic joke, especially the video; you guys are the greatest. Well played.
Man!! I fired two employees this morning because of this :)
time to call them back :D
You had me right up until “backed by Sony’s reputation for delivering high-quality standards-compliant hardware and software.”
I about crapped my pants when I read this, then I realized what day it was.
This was a great read! After I realized what was going on, I couldn’t stop grinning. Good one!
so sad news! (i almost felt for it)
Good work. I was about to go beat something and then read the comments.
Ha Ha! I love you guys. Damn I’ve been reading April Fools tech blogs all day and I thought I was prepared for everything. You got me… All I have to say is “Well played!”
Haha, You really had me, I was like F*ck No !, that can’t be possible. It’s only when I was writting a comment that I realised the date.
Ihr seid ja welche, bin wirklich drauf reingefallen :D
Und dabei weiß ich welcher Tag ist ^^
Theuni, you forgot to mention that the bulk of the initial content will be provided by use of mythicalLibrarian’s established network http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=65644&page=79
This content is generated through open source means and in a legal manner, so the free distribution of freely generated content is a majore part of Sony’s initial infrastructure.
I thought, ‘Shut The Front Door’…. (WTF)…
Where’s the plug-in?
: )
Well done! I was soooo pissed for about 30 seconds. Then I saw the date and thought “top ten box office movies in 1080p…for FREE?”
Dammit, u guys had me with this one! I saw the new this morning allready, but just find out that it’s the 1th of April! Fewww!!! Keep up the good work!
Hilarious!!! Well played…
I was literally pissed till I started reading the comments and realized I just got April Fooled lol.
Wow, XBMC Team Rick-Rolled me! I was furious reading this blog. Thank goodness it was a joke. Great sense of humor!
“all developers unanimously agreed to assigning a proprietary license” – <<<—- BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!
Ha ha! I didn’t believe my eyes, and then I saw Rick singing! Nice joke!
@colourofsound
Plex is nice in may things but it’s not open source. Almost all the work they have done since forking from xbmx has been closed source, including the server end, windows server, android client and iOS clients. The only thing open source is the mac client, but it’s a “dummy” client, it doesn’t work without the media server, which is the backbone of Plex, and that’s closed source. Plex may be great in many things, but it’s certainly not open source.
I know it would have been a tough sell to try this w/ apple.. but that would have been even more rofly
too funny…………
WoW… when i read this i nearly puked… i didnt realize it was April 1st before switching to the comments section ;)
Keep up the great work and dont u ever let something like such sony crap happen! U guys rock!
TheCooK
The rick roll was the best part by far.