Continuing with my “Why Software Companies Support OS X” series, I had a chance to ask some questions to Brian Jacquet, a spokesperson for SlingMedia. As many of you know, SlingMedia recently introduced a new beta of the SlingPlayer which is more Mac-like in appearance.
I asked Mr. Jacquet why SlingMedia supports Mac OS X when it has such a small portion of the overall computer market. He responded, “Apple makes compelling products for a loyal user base. We want to be a part of that. We think that Apple’s users will love the compelling nature of our products so we’re appealing directly them to enjoy the freedom of watching your TV (or Apple TV) anywhere. ”
While this appears to be nothing more than standard press release material, it is still, nonetheless, true. One look at any message board will show you that Apple certainly has a very loyal user base. Additionally, I know that a some (including myself) have used Parallels with Windows in order to use SlingPlayer.
One of the reasons SlingMedia supports OS X is simply to reach the largest amount of people out there. “[E]ach time we add another platform for support (ie. Windows, Mac, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, etc.) it opens the door to a larger and larger customer base and we want to provide the Slingbox experience to as many customers as possible.”
The Palm OS is nearly dead, and it appears that Linux will replace Palm OS in the near future and SlingMedia supports the Palm OS. This looks to be a good sign that even if the OS X market share declines, SlingMedia should still support it. However, Mac OS X’s user base is growing, so hopefully the SlingPlayer for OS X will be around for a long time.
When asked why SlingMedia felt the need to change the look of the SlingPlayer for Mac, Mr. Jacquet responded, “The SlingPlayer for Mac Beta was basically a screen-for-screen port of the SlingPlayer for Windows. It had almost all the same functionality and performance but lacked a Mac look-and-feel. When it came down to shipping a final version, we didn’t want our Mac customers to feel like we didn’t understand their needs or think that we don’t appreciate what it means to use software on the Mac, so we made that extra effort at refining the SlingPlayer for Mac. We’re just getting started. We’re already working on how to further improve the SlingPlayer for Mac and even used what we’ve learned in developing the SlingPlayer for Windows.”
I had used the SlingPlayer for Mac Beta before its recent refresh and it did look like a Windows port, but functioned very well. The new SlingPlayer has changed this. It is rather refreshing to hear a company state that the reason for the cosmetic changes in its software is to make customers happy. There really was no need for such a change in the look of the program. The idea was to get a window with your SlingBox content on it with a remote control window. SlingMedia already accomplished this with the original beta. The cleaned up interface is a welcome change.
Mr. Jacquet stated that SlingMedia listens to feedback of its customers and has implemented this feedback in producing a refined piece of software. The new version of SlingPlayer is available for download now over at SlingMedia.com.
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