Boxee

Maybe it's because I'm just coming off having the flu. Maybe it's because at heart I'm an anti-social misanthropist. Whatever - Boxee leaves me underwhelmed.

Apparently Boxee has been exciting other people since last summer. It hit my radar because Hulu recently told Boxee to remove Hulu's content; I probably would have remained ignorant had that not happened. Newly aware, I went to the site, created an account and downloaded the Mac OS X software. They also have a version for Ubuntu - there's no Windows version listed (though Wikipedia says that a Windows version is available "by private invitation").

What's Boxee? I'll let them tell you:

on a laptop or connected to an HDTV, boxee gives you a true entertainment experience to enjoy your movies, TV shows, music and photos, as well as streaming content from websites like Netflix, CBS, Comedy Central, Last.fm, and flickr.

Well, shucks, here I thought I could already do that..

Well, no, what I'm, missing is the Social Experience. Like Facebook et al. I'm supposed to annoy everyone I know by inviting them to join Boxee and then we can further annoy one another by telling each other what we're watching through Boxee.

Here, let me save you some time. I'm watching nothing. I will not be watching anything through Boxee at any time in the foreseeable future. I also don't care what you are watching. Yes, I'm sure that the video of the guy flying off the bridge on his snowmobile and landing on the back of the semi is really, really cool, but that's OK: I'll survive without seeing it.

Why? You mean aside from the fact that I'm sick of "social networking" in general and am no longer even bothering to respond to "Jane added you as a friend on Facebook"? Or that I don't really like video because reading is so much faster? Specifically, it's Boxee's crappy user interface that made me remove the app almost as quickly as I installed it. Apparently the design criteria are that it will be used with a typical crappy TV remote control. That fits with their stated intention to sell a set top box and to try to make deals with cable companies to include Boxee in their boxes.

Yes, TV and Internet will merge. That's great and I'm looking forward to it. Surely the visionaries can't possibly think this is going to happen without real keyboards and mice? Please tell me they aren't really that dumb?

But even so, why would I need Boxee? If I do want to share my dumb video picks and watch the idiotic things recommended by someone else, why would I need yet another social site? Surely Facebook and Twitter users recommend video now - why have a site that apparently exists ONLY for video?

It's probably time to put me out to pasture. I'm hopelessly out of touch, grumpy and antiquarian. Boxee is probably tremendously exciting and infinitely cool and I'm just too clueless to appreciate it. So be it.

Tony Lawrence 2009-03-02 Rating: 2.5