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Author Topic: What can be done to get more plugins and skins in the program?  (Read 1111 times)

flac.rules

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What can be done to get more plugins and skins in the program?
« on: January 06, 2012, 12:58:05 pm »

As mentioned in another thread, the amount of plugins to MC compared to the competition is pretty low. And the amount of skins are even lower (and the ones that exist usually change the program pretty little). I feel it would help the program to increase the amount of useful plugins, and skins is also useful, and usually easier(?) to create. But why is amount so low?

1. Fewer users than the competition? Iīm sure MC has fewer users than the biggest, but I am also pretty sure it has more users than smaller HPTC-programs with many plugins and skins

2. Difficult to make plugins or skins? I really donīt know. I have never tried to make neither

3. A community less willing to put in the effort? Maybe people are less inclined to make stuff like this for a pay-program?

4. A combination of the above or some other reason I have not thought about? Or maybe I am mistaken, are there really few plugins and skins?

It would be really interesting to get some feedback on this, especially from people who have made skins and plugins.
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HTPC4ME

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Re: What can be done to get more plugins and skins in the program?
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2012, 01:16:28 pm »

+1
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nwboater

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Re: What can be done to get more plugins and skins in the program?
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2012, 01:26:53 pm »

I'm the one that mentioned it in another thread. There are some things that JRriver doesn't want to do for possibly legal or other reasons. Full media scraping may be one of those. Making it easy for developers to write addins seems to me a good way around those issues.

As I mentioned in the other thread the software I'm most familiar with is Sage TV which is a commercial program. They made it very easy to have plugins and in their last version made the simple add or removal of plugins an integral part of the user setup panels. I don't know how they got so many high quality developers to write some great addins but it certainly benefited the users. It was easy to have a very customized version of Sage by the use of these addins.

It would be interesting to hear JRiver position on promoting the development and use of addins. Perhaps they don't want much customization of their program, preferring a tighter control of the user experience. But if they do want more addins available what can be done to lure developers to contribute?

Rod
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HTPC4ME

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Re: What can be done to get more plugins and skins in the program?
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2012, 03:18:58 pm »

plugins would rock... I personally would pay developers for plugins... Could basically start an app/gadget/plugin section. Just state jriver is not responsible. and jriver gets a cut of each app/plugin/gadget that gets uploaded, or a cut for each time it's downloaded or purchased... It would make jriver so much cooler!
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