MW: Is the public beta going to be compatible with all of those?

BJ: The public beta should be compatible back to 10.3, yes.

MW: It’s no secret that SlingPlayer Mac has been delayed several times. What has been the cause of some of the holdups?

BJ: Well, there’s a couple things to think about here. We made the decision last January during Mac World to show off a canned demo of the SlingPlayer Mac software. It was a local demo, so it wasn’t remote demo. It was coming off of a DVD player instead of a TiVo box. We decided to take advantage of the opportunity since it was around Mac World. Let’s be very specific about delivery dates, and we said Q2.

A couple things happened, and a lot of the frustration comes from folks who look at us and say we said we’d have Mac back in January, which isn’t true, but we did show something in January. So there was some truth to the fact we had something out there. Looking back on it, should we have gone out that far? Maybe, maybe not. But, what has happened since January until now is that the Mac environment has changed with the introduction of Intel based Macs, and there’s more flavors and versions of the different products. What we’ve had to do is balance making sure we get out a compatible version of the Mac with the introduction of our new products, and the upgrade of the PC software to make sure it’s compatible with the new products. What we thought we could do when we revised our delivery date to Q3 in the summer is align the new PC version of software with the Mac version of the Software to come out at the same time as our new, next generation products. Unfortunately though, the Mac lagged behind.

So, we revised the Q3 and are now getting into Q4. That’s unfortunate, and we didn’t want that to be the case. Believe me, it’s in our best interest to get out there with [the Mac] software, especially now that we have products out there on the market that have the Mac logo. We had to make a decision about what logos go on the box, and at the time felt strongly that we could deliver the Mac and PC software at the same time. We weren’t able to do that, and that’s on us. We need to rectify that.

MW: Many folks in the SlingCommunity are looking for clarification that the Mac software will be compatible with all Slingboxes. Is that a given?

BJ: Yes, that is a given. The existing Slingbox, which we call “Classic” now, will be compatible.

MW: Is that our fault? I continually referred to it as “Classic” in my coverage of the new products, and even titled the new forum topic the same way. Looks like it may have stuck.

BJ: I like it. [laughs] Someone had it down to call it “Original”, and I said, “Let’s change it to Classic”… it sounds a little bit better. So, the Classic will be compatible, as well as all the new products, and we’ll also make it compatible with our international version that has the PAL tuner, as well as the DVB tuner cards.

MW: Are there any upcoming features that will be in the final Mac version that won’t make it into the public beta?

BJ: Well, nothing that I can get specific about right now, but I think what you’ll see is that we’ll continue to refine the software, even at public beta stage, to make it work as well as possible with the Mac operating system. The main goal of the public beta is to put something out there, now, that works with the vast majority of Macs that are out there, from an operating system and processor support perspective, and have it function and work in a way that Slingbox users are accustomed to. Depending on feedback and those types of things that we get, we’ll adjust the software and builds to add new features, but there’s nothing specific that won’t be available at the onset.

MW: Will the SlingPlayer work directly with the remotes that come with the newer Macs? Like be able use the Mac remote to control the source… channel, volume, etc.

BJ: The hardware remotes that come with the Macs… is that what you’re talking about?

MW: Yes. You got it.

BJ: Well, that’s a great question actually. We are, and this is something we haven’t talked about yet, but we are talking to a number of partners to potentially deliver those types of remote functionalities for both Mac users as well as PC users. We’re looking at really cool USB, Bluetooth, or IR remotes available both from manufacturers, as well as from third parties. I was playing with one the other day that allowed me to control iTunes, as well as a PowerPoint presentation that was a like a little USB key that had an IR emitter on it.

To be specific about the Mac and the Mac remote, we definitely want to make it as robust as possible. I don’t know if that will be available immediately, but it’s definitely something we’re looking at and making sure the functionality is there. For the larger community, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback from people that say they’re sitting in their hotel room with their PC at the foot of the bed, laying there watching the game or whatever, and would love to be able to control the remote on my PC when I’m laying back in bed. So, we’re looking at solutions out there. We want to make sure it fully works, since you don’t want to have a solution where some buttons work and other buttons don’t, or where some remotes work and others don’t. We want to make sure it’s fully compatible.

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