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Because Plex actively courted the Roku's and the Amazon's of the world while Kodi was content to just make great, free software. To boot, Plex began as a fork

Because Plex actively courted the Roku's and the Amazon's of the world while Kodi was content to just make great, free software. To boot, Plex began as a fork of XBMC (Kodi's name at the time). Which, given Kodi's GPLv2 license, probably puts Plex out of compliance.

Rebelgecko 9y ago
Looks fine to me: https://github.com/plexinc/plex-home-theater-public https://github.com/plexinc/plex-home-theater-public
- AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
  My mistake, I was getting it confused with their use of FFMPEG: https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/141186/possible-gpl-violation-ffmpeg https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/141186/possible-gpl-violat... https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/141186/possible-gpl-violation-ffmpeg https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/141186/possible-gpl-violat...
  - merb 9y ago
    Even that is ok. I even found a App that used Ghostscript that way (a bigger one) And the Ghostscript guys said it's ok. You can basically just replace the Transcoder with newer versions by just putting a new dll/exe there, which makes it gpl compliant.
slantyyz 9y ago
>> Plex began as a fork of XBMC (Kodi's name at the time). Ah, XBMC... I still have an original Xbox that I modded to specifically run XBMC collecting dust in my spare room. It definitely has come a long way.
- blackflame7000 9y ago
  Those were the days. I discovered my passion for computers by modding that console and unlocking its hidden potential. Modern day magic.
- MayeulC 9y ago
  The original Xbox was way ahead of the other media centers I knew of at the time (2004-2010,roughly): * CD/DVD player * upgradeable HDD * 1080i output (though I mostly used RCA connectors, and I don't think you can decode 720p+ with it) * quite cheap compared to a fully fledged computer * trough XBMC, integrated games library management, with native and emulated titles * and of course, the plethora of add-ons and protocols Kodi supports to this day And though it was big and heavy, it had an integrated PSU. This was before raspberry pi was a thing, mind you. The alternatives were expensive (~€200) hard disk enclosures that couldn't do a fourth of this. I would have kept on using if it wasn't for its inability to cope with HD formats, and wouldn't be surprised to learn that it helped to promote the console quite a bit.
  - slantyyz 9y ago
    > And though it was big and heavy, it had an integrated PSU. It was noisy as hell (from the fan) too.
phjesusthatguy3 9y ago
Plex began by pirating XBMC, and now has the gumption to charge me $5 a month to share my pirated media with the internet at large.
- blackflame7000 9y ago
  Plex took an existing project available for use under license and modified it into a proprietary branch. If you have ever studied the history of Unix you will realize that this is extremely common. If you take an existing invention and improve it, its a new invention.
joshstrange 9y ago
Plex Home Theater (a client) was/is a fork of XBMC. I'm not aware of the server having it's roots in XBMC but I could be wrong.

Rebelgecko 9y ago

Looks fine to me: https://github.com/plexinc/plex-home-theater-public https://github.com/plexinc/plex-home-theater-public

AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
My mistake, I was getting it confused with their use of FFMPEG: https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/141186/possible-gpl-violation-ffmpeg https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/141186/possible-gpl-violat... https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/141186/possible-gpl-violation-ffmpeg https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/141186/possible-gpl-violat...
- merb 9y ago
  Even that is ok. I even found a App that used Ghostscript that way (a bigger one) And the Ghostscript guys said it's ok. You can basically just replace the Transcoder with newer versions by just putting a new dll/exe there, which makes it gpl compliant.

slantyyz 9y ago

>> Plex began as a fork of XBMC (Kodi's name at the time). Ah, XBMC... I still have an original Xbox that I modded to specifically run XBMC collecting dust in my spare room. It definitely has come a long way.

blackflame7000 9y ago
Those were the days. I discovered my passion for computers by modding that console and unlocking its hidden potential. Modern day magic.
MayeulC 9y ago
The original Xbox was way ahead of the other media centers I knew of at the time (2004-2010,roughly): * CD/DVD player * upgradeable HDD * 1080i output (though I mostly used RCA connectors, and I don't think you can decode 720p+ with it) * quite cheap compared to a fully fledged computer * trough XBMC, integrated games library management, with native and emulated titles * and of course, the plethora of add-ons and protocols Kodi supports to this day And though it was big and heavy, it had an integrated PSU. This was before raspberry pi was a thing, mind you. The alternatives were expensive (~€200) hard disk enclosures that couldn't do a fourth of this. I would have kept on using if it wasn't for its inability to cope with HD formats, and wouldn't be surprised to learn that it helped to promote the console quite a bit.
- slantyyz 9y ago
  > And though it was big and heavy, it had an integrated PSU. It was noisy as hell (from the fan) too.

phjesusthatguy3 9y ago

Plex began by pirating XBMC, and now has the gumption to charge me $5 a month to share my pirated media with the internet at large.

blackflame7000 9y ago
Plex took an existing project available for use under license and modified it into a proprietary branch. If you have ever studied the history of Unix you will realize that this is extremely common. If you take an existing invention and improve it, its a new invention.

joshstrange 9y ago

Plex Home Theater (a client) was/is a fork of XBMC. I'm not aware of the server having it's roots in XBMC but I could be wrong.