[the_biot]

OpenPLI is one of the many open source set top box projects that relies heavily on vendor-provided kernels, because of the drivers that run the hardware.

Why is it that none of these seem to make an effort to get out from under the outdated-kernel, crappy vendor driver trap? They seem content to keep diddling UI stuff while the underlying technology remains so shoddy?

[franga2000]

Isn't it obvious? If you have two products, one that is unstable and ugly, but neat under the hood and one that is stable and pretty, but runs an outdated kernel, which would end-users choose?

[dsr_]

Writing a hardware driver is usually harder than writing a new UI.