Community Comments on Google's Acquisition of SageTV

[panteragstk]

* Content of this post copied from another post by panteragstk & chosen to lead this topic *

EDIT BY NARFLEX: The purpose of this thread is for moving all the pointless posts that aren't contributing to the community at all so that those who still want to have a usable discussion forum can have someplace to go. So to all of the contributing community members; you can just ignore everything in this thread. To those that want to bitch, complain and just be outright disrespectful and rude...welcome to your new home!.

[cncb]

I find it surprising that so many people are willing to give them money after the way we've been treated after the acquisition. They have left us in the dark for nearly 2 months now and they have acted like the deal just snuck up on them and they didn't have time to work out the details while the negotiations were going on. BS.

* split to its own topic where this kind of discussion can continue w/o interfering with other topics *

[Savage1701]

Originally Posted by cncb

I find it surprising that so many people are willing to give them money after the way we've been treated after the acquisition. They have left us in the dark for nearly 2 months now and they have acted like the deal just snuck up on them and they didn't have time to work out the details while the negotiations were going on. BS.

Agree. Posted essentially the same sentiments right after the deal blind-sided us. Got tired of replying to the apologists and the "say it ain't so" crowd.

No way this deal "snuck up" on them. We spent a year prepping our company for sale, making contacts, finding a buyer, signing them to NDA's, letting them do their due diligence, and then going over final negotiations and transfer arrangements.

[wayner]

But you don't let anyone know about a deal until it is complete as it can fall apart at the 11th hour. But that doesn't mean that they couldn't have negotiated with Google to have a couple of months to sell any and all extenders, client licenses, server licenses, etc.

[crusing]

Why do I still want to give them my money? Pretty simple really. There is nothing better out there than Sage TV and the HD300. With everyone getting behind streaming as a alternative to the big cable co. and proprietary set top boxes there probably will never be anything as good as Sage for recording TV and playing locally stored content. I have tried every system out there. Seriously I am not kidding, I have tried them all in the last year before I invested in Sage, nothing else comes close in my opinion.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by crusing

Why do I still want to give them my money? Pretty simple really. There is nothing better out there than Sage TV and the HD300. With everyone getting behind streaming as a alternative to the big cable co. and proprietary set top boxes there probably will never be anything as good as Sage for recording TV and playing locally stored content. I have tried every system out there. Seriously I am not kidding, I have tried them all in the last year before I invested in Sage, nothing else comes close in my opinion.

That's the sad truth. Nothing comes close to SageTV. If you check the alternatives, you'd be shocked how horrible the software functions or how poorly the GUI's look and feel.

The media content needs to be stored and played back locally. Bandwidth caps will absolutely guarantee streamed GoogleTV will fail.

I think "Full speed ahead" was said by the captain of the Titanic. I think GoogleTV has a similar fate.

Maybe the phrase for the SageTV users should have been "That's all folks!".


Dave

[speck55]

Originally Posted by cncb

I find it surprising that so many people are willing to give them money after the way we've been treated after the acquisition. They have left us in the dark for nearly 2 months now and they have acted like the deal just snuck up on them and they didn't have time to work out the details while the negotiations were going on. BS.

You are stating the same thing I've stated over and over and over around here. They threw us in the dark, in a burlap sack, threw us under the bus, then backed it up over us, pulled forward, backed up, and ordered a yard of concrete or two and had a foundation poured.

That being said, giving the giant $149 beats giving eBay $450 (yes they are that high now). Extra incentive if you have either a lot invested and need backup hardware, or have a decent amount invested and were just about to buy 3 or 4 more of these magic $149 boxes.

[Savage1701]

+1 to all your points.

[Fuzzy]

Sage has done nothing to me. Everything I had before the buyout I still have...

[jsonnabend]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Sage has done nothing to me. Everything I had before the buyout I still have...

Like the ability to add new client licenses?

To buy new extenders?

Like the reasonable expectation of continuing development?

Like a reasonable expectation of continuing EPG data and plugin servers?

They haven't come into your home and physically removed anything, but you are not in the same position you were in before the acquisition. Anyone wanting to expand his system knows that.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

Like the ability to add new client licenses?

To buy new extenders?

Like the reasonable expectation of continuing development?

Like a reasonable expectation of continuing EPG data and plugin servers?

They haven't come into your home and physically removed anything, but you are not in the same position you were in before the acquisition. Anyone wanting to expand his system knows that.

Are my opportunities different now than two months ago? yes... but opportunities are not something i HAVE, they are something that exists at a given time and situation. Everything i have GOTTEN from sage still works as well today as it did then, and in fact all parts of my system are vastly improved from when i actually made purchases from sage. Everything else you mention (expectation of development, etc) are things you've placed in your own mind. When you make a purchase (ANY purchase) there is no guarantee of support/continued development beyond any written guarantee/warranty period.

[jsonnabend]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

When you make a purchase (ANY purchase) there is no guarantee of support/continued development beyond any written guarantee/warranty period.

Absolutely correct (and not even up to the guarantee/warranty period). But these are intangibles with real value. If not, why would they be touted in sales lit? When a company goes under or is bought up (like here), these points of value are taken away from consumers.

This is a sore point for me because I was just about to add two new clients. Suddenly, one important thing of value I had -- the ability to expand -- I no longer had (found work-arounds of course).

[Fuzzy]

I'm not saying your situation hasn't changed... but google did not TAKE something from you in the way many here are saying. The situation has changed, and something you THINK you had you have realized you don't. SageTV never gave you anything you didn't buy. Your expectation of future purchase capability was of your own creation.. and it turns out you were wrong.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

Like the ability to add new client licenses?

To buy new extenders?

A group of us are working to develop a Boxee app that will serve as an extender. It will never be as good as a HD300, but it should be very functional.

[jsonnabend]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Your expectation of future purchase capability was of your own creation.. and it turns out you were wrong.

No, that's wrong. One of the selling points in the literature was the ability to expand. The value proposition as presented by SageTV included the expectation of future expandability. Same is true for free and easy EPG data and extender availability.

For that matter, before the acquisition I had the ability to expand while after it I do not. Something of value -- the ability to expand -- has been deprived me. That deprivation is not of my creation.

[APillowOfClouds]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

No, that's wrong. One of the selling points in the literature was the ability to expand. The value proposition as presented by SageTV included the expectation of future expandability. Same is true for free and easy EPG data and extender availability.

For that matter, before the acquisition I had the ability to expand while after it I do not. Something of value -- the ability to expand -- has been deprived me. That deprivation is not of my creation.

If I buy a car and after I drive it for three years I find out I can no longer buy parts, I have gotten what I originally paid for but I still will not be a happy camper. There's a difference between delivering the bare minimum or delivering a good continuing customer experience. Sage used to do the latter, now with this acquisition at least so far they are leaning toward the former. I realize they have no legal obligation to provide upgrades and licenses. That does not make me feel less... well... to put it delicately, taken advantage of.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

No, that's wrong. One of the selling points in the literature was the ability to expand. The value proposition as presented by SageTV included the expectation of future expandability. Same is true for free and easy EPG data and extender availability.

For that matter, before the acquisition I had the ability to expand while after it I do not. Something of value -- the ability to expand -- has been deprived me. That deprivation is not of my creation.

What literature are you talking about? I never saw anything from sage saying you would be able to add something in the future. That is an assumption you've made. What they DID say is that 'if you buy A, it will work with B.' What you inferred from that was 'if I buy B, I can, in the future, buy A and it will work with it'. That was an assumption on your part based on the non-stated condition that the future purchase of item A will be a possibility. Everything sage stated is still true. If you DID purchase A (say, a second hand HD300), it would still work with B (SageTV Server).

[Skirge01]

I'm still upset I can't get all of this stuff I was promised I'd be able to buy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_XrIx2eUGc

[jsonnabend]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

What literature are you talking about? I never saw anything from sage saying you would be able to add something in the future. That is an assumption you've made. What they DID say is that 'if you buy A, it will work with B.' What you inferred from that was 'if I buy B, I can, in the future, buy A and it will work with it'. That was an assumption on your part based on the non-stated condition that the future purchase of item A will be a possibility. Everything sage stated is still true. If you DID purchase A (say, a second hand HD300), it would still work with B (SageTV Server).

Well, I'm not searching through the wayback machine, but it was in there.

In any event, the whole "expectation" think is a red herring. You can't refute (and didn't try) the fact that the day before the acquisition I could buy additional client licenses and the day after I couldn't. Day before: expandability. Day after: no expandability.

Regardless of my "expectations", something of value was deprived me as a result of the acquisition. That addresses directly your point ("Everything I had before the buyout I still have... ").

[Fuzzy]

My point was that they did not screw you, and no-one ran over anyone with a bus numerous times. The feature list of the SageTV software did not even mention the extender, though it did mention placeshifter (with a link to the purchase page for placeshifter) and that you could stream to other PC's with SageTV installed. It never once mentioned the ability to expand that system at a later time.