Is there a business oppurtunity here? (1 Viewer)

[warped6]

Hello Everyone,

I have set up a HTPC for myself at home. An although I don't have everything configured in MP the way I want it, it's close enough that I can use it. I have to fight my wife for time on it now even if I tell her that it'll be better.

Anyway... a friend of ours was over the other day and she is looking for a new computer. She saw my HTPC and went "Cool!". Then she saw my wife's Shuttle and went "Cool! And you build me one of those (HTPC) in a box that size (Shuttle)?" Sure I said. Came up with a price, and she said she would do it later. No problem.

So now my questions...
1. Do you think MP is stable enough to be used by a computer newbie? She mainly uses it for some 'net browsing, e-mail, Office stuff but likes the idea of getting rid of her TV and DVD player.

2. Could this be the start of a business? Would it be worth it or am I asking for headaches? It seems like there is a lot of buzz with MS and such but is it (media pc's) *REALLY* getting to be as popular as it sounds or is it just noise? Is it the computer industry saying "Hey this is the next big thing!" or IS it the next big thing?

Anybody has any thoughts?
Mike

 

[elconejito]

i've always thought it was kinda silly to watch TV/DVDs, etc on a computer monitor. No matter how big your monitor or LCD, it cant match a TV screen, IMO.

*However*, the idea of an HTPC, a combo of Tivo, entertainment center, DVD player, VCR, etc is a great idea.

Is there $$ in it? there is money in anything if you market it right and have an audience. For now tho, i think mainly only tech savvy people will be interested, especially since it is still really new.

For the record, MP is on my desktop computer which i use on a daily basis for everything. I use MP mainly as a "sorta Tivo" so i can record show/events i miss and either burn them to DVD later, or compress with DivX and bring them into work to watch (my job is very hot and cold, either really busy or really quiet). I would someday like to eventually build a standalone box for nothing but MP and use it as a true HTPC tho...

 

[PLeblanc]

I don't know if there is money in it, because once you build a full quiet box around it, there often aren't enough slots to make it do everything. BUT, if you can find a box that saisfies enough people, that is quiet and power efficient, then you might have an opportunity. So far, in my opinion, there aren't boxes (and MP isn't stable enough) fo you to SELL services around it. I say that because you'd need to spend a lot of time supporting the boxes. And with the current state of things, that might be a lot of time.

 

[Brocklander]

I say that because you'd need to spend a lot of time supporting the boxes. And with the current state of things, that might be a lot of time.

This is probably the biggest draw back, you can get the box up and working for a customer, but what to do when the next release of MP rolls around?

This happened when I pointed a friend towards an open source MSN Messenger alternative that was still a work in progress. The version she downloaded was quite buggy, and she didn't understand that it was necessary to be downloading, installing and configuring the latest versions every week or so to stay on top of what was new as well as the bugfixes.

But I guess it depends on what functionality the customer wants, and whether the current release of MP delievers this and the stability needed to keep them happy.

Another interesting issue is not really a complaint I guess - it's explaining all the things that MP can actually do! It's a tough sales pitch when you have trouble explaining just how full of funcitionality the program is.

 

[LastMar]

The software really isn't there yet.