I’ve mentioned SageTV in my blog a number of times, and how it was the best DIY software for turning your own computer into a custom DVR. Then Google purchased the company and turned it into the set top box (STB) software for their Google Fibre project in Kansas City.
I’m still using SageTV on a daily basis as my main DVR, as Google never did turn off the TV guide data. But unfortunately, I had to move some play back functionality to XBMC Media Center now named Kodi. As a side note, I still like to say XBMC, as “Kodi” is the gayest name ever for any product. No self respecting gay guy would spell his name with a “K” and an “I”, unless he was a drag queen. They went from XBMC, a strong, masculine, technical sounding name that roles off your tongue, to the name of a drag queen. I like drag queens just fine. But I would never name a software product after one. But I digress.
A few days ago, the founder of SageTV announced on the SageTV forum that Google is planning to open source SageTV in the near future. This is quite a surprise and uncharacteristic of Google. Google is well known for killing products off with little to no notice. For Google to not only leave the TV guide data available to past license owners like myself, and now to open source and release a slightly updated version is quite a treat.
I for one look forward to this day, and to see how many of the past dedicated add-on developers will come back to expand the product. I have a good feeling that SageTV will do well and make a strong come back!
You can read more at liliputing and the SageTV forum.