TiVo is one of the better known applications of embedded Linux
going. The author of this piece is addressing the question of why
it doesn’t seem to be picking up sales as quickly as its good buzz
might suggest. In the midst of a week largely flavored by
discussions about desktop Linux, it’s grimly amusing to be reminded
most people don’t even like to make the blinking twelve go
away.
“But the biggest problem is marketing – or as the TiVo
folks put it, “education.” It seems those of us who have spent the
last 20 years figuring out how to program the VCR clock are
terrified by the idea of switching to a PVR and all the extra
technological challenges that sounds like it might entail. In
truth, nothing could be easier than navigating TiVo’s menus. All
you really need to know how to use are the buttons market up, down,
left, right and select. But computers have gotten such a bad rap
with the technophobic, as slowing PC sales suggest, that a computer
even in the guise of an easy-to-use consumer electronics product
just will not fly off the Circuit City shelves.”