DeviceGuru

After nearly a year of eager anticipation, devotees of Boxee’s free A/V-streaming software platform finally got to see a demonstration of D-Link’s Boxee Box running Boxee’s long-awaited v1 software in New York City last week. Unfortunately, praise for either seems about as hard to locate as a needle in a haystack.

In a post on Boxee’s blog, Boxee spokesperson Andrew Kippen enthusiastically reported on the November 10th New York City hardware and software launch. His post included the screenshots below, offering a few glimpses of the Boxee v1.0’s updated user interface — which reportedly was disappointingly different from the existing v0.9 beta Boxee release.

Several screenshots from Boxee v1.0
(click thumbnails to enlarge)

Comments in response to Kippen’s blog post range from faint praise, to suggestions for improvement, to strong criticism. A few issues with v1, relative to the v0.9 beta Boxee software running Mac and PC systems, are said to include…

• Lack of Netflix and Hulu support at launch
• Less appealing look and feel
• Elimination of a number of well-liked features
• Increased complexity of menus
• Reduced emphasis on local content and bit torrent downloads
• Requires more keystrokes to get to and launch oft-used launch apps
• Desire for free Hulu support, not just the promised Hulu Plus
• Can’t watch popular TV shows that are available via the Boxee beta on a PC or Mac
• Too tailored to the U.S. market (much content not available elsewhere)

In response to concerns from Boxee users, CEO Avner Ronen today annouinced a one-hour question and answer session, which will be streamed live on November 16 at 2:00pm EST.

“If you are an existing Boxee Box user or considering getting one, it is an opportunity for you to ask me any question you may have,” says Ronen. “The Q&A session will be 1 hour long or more (depends how it goes and whether I will be able to fight the urge to go downstairs for a macchiato from the Van Leeuwen truck).”

The live-streamed Q&A session will be available directly on Boxee’s blog, as well as on LiveStream’s website.

“I hope you can tune in,” adds Ronen. “If you’d like to ask me a question, send it to me via @boxee on Twitter and I’ll do my best to answer as many of your queries as possible.”

Further info

Further details on D-Link’s Boxee Box are available in our earlier coverage, as well as on D-Link’s website.

Further information on the free, Boxee A/V streaming platform for OS X, Windows, and Linux PCs and the AppleTV STB is available on Boxee’s website. From there, you can download the software free of charge. Maybe you’ll use it to build your own boxee box.